We used to be friends
by Moe Riverside
Summary: AU. Kurt, Blaine and Wes were best friends until high school. When Kurt goes to spy on the competition at the school he never got to attend, Kurt starts to come to terms with what he's missing, and what he already has. Eventual Klaine.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: I have been working on "We Used to Be Friends" for quite a while now, and I'm finally ready to start publishing. :D It's about 75% complete with some editing to do, so I hope I can publish at least three times a week. I hope that you enjoy it!**

**Here is a brief description of this AU to start you off: Kurt, Blaine and Wes were best friends growing up. Ever since Kurt had transferred to their grade school, they'd been inseparable; but, when it came time for High School Kurt gets some disappointing news and does not get to continue on to Dalton with them. Instead he returns to the Lima school district, and things unfold in a way generally similar to canon. One day, Kurt gets the opportunity to spy on the glee club at Dalton, and he goes to see what he's been missing out on, and reconnects with Wes and Blaine. (This will eventually be Klaine, because... they are my otp.)**

**Apologies now for any grammatical errors. Reviews are loved and appreciated.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.**

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><p><strong>Prologue- 3 years ago. Lima, Ohio (The Hummel household), Early July:<strong>

The three boys were sprawled out across his bedroom in various relaxed positions as they simply enjoyed the quiet afternoon. The window was open and Kurt could feel the gentle breeze tickling his cheek and alleviating some of the misery of the oppressive summer heat that had been plaguing them for the better part of June. Cheery sounds of birds chirping and children playing in the cul-de-sac out front flitted in and out of their hearing as they basked in the silence.

Blaine was laid out on top of Kurt's black duvet covered bed staring contentedly out the window at the cloudy blue sky with his arms folded across his chest and a contemplative expression on his face. Kurt wondered what he was thinking about. Wes sat on the opposite end of the bed, back against the wall with one knee tucked beneath his chin as he re-reads _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ for the hundredth time. It looked almost as though the two boys were a natural fixture of the room, and probably most people who came upon the scene would never guess that Blaine and Wes were home-grown Westerville suburbians and not really from the middle class home in Lima that housed Kurt and Burt Hummel. They seemed to have practically have taken up residence there whenever they weren't at summer camp or summer school.

Kurt thinks this is probably because his dad is easily the most fun and attentive of the three sets of parents. Don't get him wrong- he loves the Andersons and the Chiangs, but… there was just something about his dad that was special. Maybe he was a little bias. Blaine's Mom and Dad are always working or going to social events now that he's older, and even though Kurt thinks they're pretty cool and very nice, he knows Blaine wishes they didn't work as often. Wes' parents are a lot more down to earth, but they were constantly making Wes go to community gatherings, play tons of sports and babysit his little sister. Wes told him it was because his parents thought family and cultural heritage were the most important things in life. All Kurt knew was that he would never let Mrs. Chiang con him into helping babysit ever again. That little girl was a terror.

He smiles when his thoughts turn to his own Dad. It had been a hard couple of years since his mother died. Kurt had been angry all the time. He had purposefully done things to make his father angry, and Burt had just taken it all in stride and done the best he could to hold their family together. His Dad had let Wes and Blaine come over more and more in a desperate attempt to get Kurt to come to terms and deal with his anger. He found his father's acceptance and love for his best friends inspiring.

It had been his Mom's idea to have Kurt tested for the gifted program when he was just in Kindergarten, and when his scores had come in far higher than any child in his year, they had looked into sending him to a school that was more intellectually challenging and specialized to gifted students. That was how he'd met Blaine and Wes, and by the time they were in third grade they'd become inseparable.

Kurt looked up from his place on the carpet where he was laying on his stomach with his legs swinging lazily back and forth as he wrote in his journal. He glanced up at them every few minutes and chewed on his pen. He could feel his stomach churning painfully and tried to speak. Tucked within the pages beneath the one he was writing on Kurt had a letter that changed everything. It had come in the mail two days ago, and after his father had shown it to him Kurt had been distraught. He needed to tell Blaine an Wes, but he just hadn't figured out how to do it. They had been lounging for the better part of an hour and he had been silently trying to form the words to tell them.

I'm not going to Dalton.

I'm not going to Dalton with you in August.

You know how we were going to Dalton and we were going to rule the school and be best friends forever? Well, change of plans.

So far, he hadn't been able to make any of the words go past his lips.

"Something you need Kurt?" Wes' vaguely amused voice asked from behind his book.

Kurt realized he was still staring. Oops. He began to chew extra hard on the pen as he looked away.

"No. Nope, sorry. Just… spacing."

"You're going to destroy your teeth if you keep doing that. Not to mention my pen…which you can totally keep now," Blain added, twisting around so that he was laying on his side facing Kurt.

Kurt pulled the pen out of his mouth quickly. "Sorry."

Blaine rolled his eyes and smiled fondly at his friend. "It's okay. I keep extra pens around because I know that you have a tendency to destroy them when you're nervous."

Kurt blinked. He hadn't realized he did it that much. Did he really chew his pens when he was nervous? Hmm.

"So what's bugging you?" Blaine asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kurt's eyes snapped up to meet the warm hazel brown ones that were staring at him with concern and interest. Wes put his book down and leaned forward too.

"I…" he started weakly. He hated when they ganged up on him. He could never keep anything to himself when they looked at him like that.

He sighed and pulled himself up so he was sitting with his legs crossed.

"I have something to tell you, and you aren't going to like it very much."

They both exchanged a look and Kurt felt his eyes stinging slightly. He looked down at his journal where the letter was taunting him from between the pages and he blinked rapidly to keep his emotions under control.

"Kurt, what's up?" Blaine asked, brows furrowing.

"I can't go to Dalton," he finally managed to blurt out after a moment of awkward silence.

"What?" Wes asked in confusion.

Blaine tilted his head and a flash of confusion and concern crossed his soft features as he too sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, giving Kurt his full attention.

Kurt swallowed in attempt to get rid of the dryness that had suddenly made itself at home in his throat.

"I just…didn't get in," he said softly, head bending down to look at the edge of the envelope sticking out from between the pages in his lap.

"Is it because of how expensive it is?" Wes asked, still frowning.

Kurt set his elbows on his knees and miserably balanced his head in his palms.

"It's not just the money," he informed them. "You know I would have been going on a scholarship anyway. We got a letter from the school saying that because we don't live in the district that I had to be given second priority to all of the students who do live in the district, scholarship students included. Dad showed me the letter yesterday. There isn't an open spot for me."

There was a brief moment of silence where all of the boys digested this information.

"Well there must be something we can do!" Blaine said, his features growing angry. "I can talk to Dad and maybe he can talk to the headmaster- there's just no way you can't go to Dalton. It's what we've dreamed of since we were ten!"

Kurt shook his head sadly, "Dad already talked to the headmaster, showed him my test scores. He said he was really sorry, but there was nothing he could do. He did say he'd keep any on the list and call us if a spot ever became available."

Wes was twisting the paperback book in his hands tightly as though taking out his agitation on it would solve the issue.

He stood up and gently removed the book from his hands, "You would be really sad if you ripped it or something. You love that book."

He didn't meet his eyes.

"Kurt," Wes said, voice cracking.

He bit his lip and turned around, making a show of putting the book over on the desk so they wouldn't see him cry. He hated crying. He had been told by many others (never his dad, Blaine or Wes) that boys didn't cry. They hadn't needed to remind him; he was aware of the social stigma.

Of course his friends had never made him feel like he was weaker for crying. But still, Kurt couldn't help but notice that neither of them really ever cried. Sure there was a time or two when they were younger and they'd fallen and scraped their knees, but nothing like Kurt did. He was secretly ashamed of it.

He jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced back and allowed a watery smile as he saw both boys standing behind him. He sniffled slightly and brought up a hand to wipe his eyes quickly.

"Okay, I think this moment calls for a hug," Blaine announced.

Kurt rolled his eyes. Blaine was a hugger. While Kurt was not overtly fond of hugging, he wasn't entirely opposed either. Wes was most definitely not a fan of hugs. But he made exceptions for people he really cared about. Which happened to include Kurt and Blaine.

He felt two pairs of arms encircle him and he smiled slightly.

After a few moments he felt Wes try and pull away, but with no luck. He too tried to wiggle, but Blaine held them in place and sighed contentedly.

"Alright Blaine…" Kurt said trying to move again. "Okay. Really. I appreciate the hug, but enough is enough."

Blaine reluctantly pulled away and grinned at him before skipping to the bed. Kurt couldn't help but notice that his shoulders were still slumped and the smile on his lips was tight.

He and Wes rolled their eyes.

"Movie?" he suggested.

They all agreed, and it was as the opening credits to Hercules began that he had to ask the question. Without looking away from the screen, he asked in a small voice, "This doesn't change anything right? You won't forget me?"

"Never," Blaine declared softly, also not looking.

"You're unforgettable, Kurt Hummel. Now shush. That hot lady on the vase is singing."


	2. Once upon a time, without you

**Author's Note: I have been working on "We Used to Be Friends" for quite a while now, and I'm finally ready to start publishing. It's about 75% complete with some editing to do, so I hope I can publish at least three times a week (maybe more). I hope that you enjoy it!**

**Here is a brief description of this AU to start you off: Kurt, Blaine and Wes were best friends growing up. Ever since Kurt had transferred to their grade school, they'd been inseparable; but, when it came time for High School Kurt gets some disappointing news and does not get to continue on to Dalton with them. Instead he returns to the Lima school district, and things unfold in a way generally similar to canon. One day, Kurt gets the opportunity to spy on the glee club at Dalton, and he goes to see what he's been missing out on, and reconnects with Wes and Blaine. (This will eventually be Klaine, because... they are my otp.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch. 1: Once upon a time, without you<strong>

It was as he lay flat on his back in the dank darkness, eyes wide open and alert, that he wished he lived somewhere else. Somewhere where he could start the day out like a normal person. This wasn't the first time Kurt had made this particular wish, and likely wouldn't be the last. Now though it occurred to him that he had better get a move on because it was already halfway through first period, which meant he'd missed most of AP French, and he would miss Calculus soon. He supposed he was pretty lucky that he had his phone with him this time, otherwise he might well have missed the whole day of school.

As he shifted to find his phone there was a sharp pain that radiated through his left thigh and something sticky dribbled across his right cheek, but he firmly ignored it. Finally managing to wiggle enough to drag his Blackberry out of his pocket; he flipped the slim phone open. The faint light illuminated the tight space and he blessed Buddha and any other diety that was watching over him (or not watching over him) that his phone was still blinking low battery and not dead. He made a mental note to charge it more often than he had been. It wouldn't do to be stuck helpless. Kurt created a new text and did his best in the poor light to address it to Finn, Sam, Rachel and Mercedes- the most likely of his friends to see his message and actually come to his aid.

**From: Kurt**

** -**SOS. Stuck again- help? North side of school.

Having pressed send he had little else to do but lay and wait. Folding his arms across his chest he closed his eyes and imagined himself away to a happier time. He hummed slightly to himself.

_Tears are forming in your eyes,_

_Your storm is warring the sky._

_The end of the world it seems,_

_You're bent down and fall on your knees,_

_Well get back on your feet- yeah._

_Don't look away,_

_Don't run away, baby,_

_Don't lose your faith,_

_Don't run away-_

_It's only life-_

He stopped as he felt his phone buzzing against his palm, followed by another short buzz.

_**2 new messages.**_

He flipped to the first one and breathed a sigh of relief. It was from Rachel.

**From: Rachel**

-OMG. On my way; bringing Mercedes and your bag.

Kurt smiled slightly and was briefly thankful that he had friends who were willing to ditch class and come get him. Despite his and Rachel's self-proclaimed "dramatic attitude," she really was a good friend. Well… most of the time anyway. She could be jealous, selfish, and completely obnoxious (not to mention her sense of fashion), but she knew what he was going through. Rachel Berry had been the recipient of much bullying herself- most because of who she was, but some because of who her parents were. It was another thing amongst a growing list that they had in common, and he appreciated her being there for him. He tried to do the same.

He sent another text to the others saying that Rachel had it covered, and waited some more. It would take Rachel at least five more minutes to collect Mercedes and get across the school. He was really hoping she would be quick because he had just enough time to shower and change so that he wouldn't miss all of calculus. Not that he really _needed_ to be there, he had 104% after all. He was hoping to study for his French test though, because he'd missed the review. It was Tuesday, and the test was tomorrow. He'd studied for it vigilantly all throughout the weekend, much to Finn's annoyance. Finn had practically begged him to come out of his room and play Call of Duty with him. Kurt had steadfastly refused. School was the one thing in his life that he had control of, and even though he was beginning to grow more and more attached to his new brother with each passing day, he knew he had to focus on school. Grades were everything if you wanted to get out of Lima.

Kurt _really_ wanted to get out of Lima.

It was also the 28th of October, and he was trying not to think about _that._ The 28th of October was Wes' birthday and Kurt was feeling especially nostalgic today. He desperately wanted to text him or something, but A) he hadn't talked to his (ex?) best friend in almost a year and a half, and B) what would he say?

**From: Kurt**

** -**Wes- Happy Birthday from the WMHS Dumpster. Sorry I haven't tried to keep in contact lately.

Yeah, he didn't think so. It had been almost 2 and a half years since Kurt had been forced into the Lima school district, and a year and a half since he'd said an actual word to either of his former best friends. The distance, new schools and friendships, and activities (and subsequent jealousy on his part) had torn them apart until one day, Kurt realized he hadn't texted, facebooked, or called Wes or Blaine in ten days.

After that, communication began slowing down even more until it was only a text here and there on a birthday or a holiday, or a random "It's been awhile, we should hang out." Kurt had regretted not going to Dalton every day since he'd come to McKinley. He lived through the constant abuse, bullying and slurs thrown his way, but on the inside sometimes he felt like he was falling apart.

Things had gotten better when he'd joined Glee Club last year. Well, better and worse. He lived for Glee Club; he knew that he was headed to the big leagues one day: New York (Broadway). That was his dream, and it didn't matter what anyone said or who tried to put him down. He'd get there, and show them all how much better he was than the petty ignorance that existed here. Maybe that was why he and Rachel got along so well. The homophobic bullies and small town mentality were just one stop on their way to greatness- to freedom.

Although he had a reason to come to school, and mostly felt good about himself, the bullying by Karofsky and his posse of jocks had increased tenfold. He wasn't tossed into dumpsters quite that often anymore, but he'd been unlucky enough to run into Azimio alone on his way into school that morning. Of course he'd managed to make some scathing remark about the boys intelligence, and he'd ended up tossed into the dumpster, and locked in. Where the jock had come up with the idea to padlock the dumpster he would never know. What he did know was that at Dalton, with Wes and Blaine by his side, this would never happen.

But this wasn't Dalton, and he was Kurt Hummel.

Once Rachel and Mercedes had made it to the dumpsters and discovered that he was padlocked in he quickly suggested that they were going to need the help of someone who could pick a lock. That was how Puck ended up hoisting him out of the dumpster and dusting him off.

"Okay Hummel?" he asked quietly.

When Puck was quiet you knew that he was being serious. Serious Puck was a bit of a scary spectacle; it meant that he was upset, or thinking. Both were dangerous situations for all involved. Kurt had a feeling that Puck was a little bit upset on his behalf. It had taken the tough, Mohawk-ed boy the better half of a year to come to terms with the fact that he could be a badass and in glee club, and good friends with Kurt (and sometimes maybe a little more) without falling prey to the same kind of bullying that Kurt had.

Kurt was convinced that it was the Mohawk. The short brown tufts of hair seemed to be a magical power source that enhanced his badass-ness. Puck was his only guy friend (excluding the formerly mentioned) that had never been ashamed to announce that he was friends with Kurt. That is, not since he'd joined Glee Club and discovered he was badass no matter what. But really, those were just minor details. He even occasionally made crude, Santana level comments about him. He had never been prouder to have a friend at McKinley. Even if he didn't necessarily appreciate being objectified, he found it flattering.

"I'm fine," he said in a small voice. And he really was. He'd escaped this encounter with a minimum of bruises. The only thing he was particularly annoyed about was that his shirt was ruined. He looked down remorsefully at the knit Gucci sweater and sighed.

"My sweater appears to have suffered a majority of the damage."

Puck's features were eerily calm. "Good. Go get cleaned up, and get to class. I'll see you later."

He followed it with a wink, but Kurt felt that it had been forced. He was worried about what was going on in that boy's head and what he might plan to do. He resisted the urge to make a "juvie" related comment and put a gentle hand on the well-muscled shoulder. "I'm fine," he repeated firmly.

Puck rolled his eyes and walked swiftly away.

"That boy is going to end up locked in the porter potties again," Mercedes said with a shake of her head as she came to wrap a comforting arm around Kurt.

All three of the remaining glee clubbers shuddered. There was nothing worse than being locked in the porter potties.

"Mercedes…" Kurt started giving her sideways glance, "you know I'm covered in garbage right?"

Mercedes immediately pulled her arm away, wrinkling her nose in pure disgust at the sticky orange goop.

"Gross!"

They walked in to the school through the side door and Kurt was sincerely thankful that no one was in the hall-

"Porcelain, Hobbit, Divalicious!"

Scratch that. This was soooo not what he needed right now. They turned as one and he looked at the ground with a sigh.

"Yes Coach Sylvester?" Rachel asked sweetly.

The cheerleading coach sneered at her. "What are you three doing in the hall during class? 50 points from Glee Club."

The three exchanged a look.

"Erm, coach… this isn't Harry Potter. There aren't any points to take away…" Kurt reminded her.

She glared at him. "But there is funding to steal, and pathetic little hearts to crush. Now answer the question."

They looked at each other again.

"They're helping me get cleaned up," he said finally, gesturing to his clothes. "I got locked in the dumpster this morning."

Her expression turned serious as she looked down at him, as though seeing him for the first time. She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it.

"Porcelain, when this happens, you need to report it from now on. To me. Not to Figgins, not to that over-greased moose that depletes the earth's ozone with the amount of hair product he uses and masquerades as a teacher. Me, understand? Now get out of my sight before I give you detention," she snapped, turning and stalking down the hallway.

He sighed in relief. Thank cheezus that she liked him.

They made it to the girl's locker room and the girls rummaged through his bag and tossed him a towel, promising to have his clothes ready as soon as he had showered. He stripped out of his black skinny jeans and his ruined sweater and started heading for the shower, hoping there weren't any other girls in here already taking a shower. Not that most of them cared- they all knew what he went through, and it was sort of like a way for them to make up for not doing anything when he was being pushed around.

Before he stepped into the shower stall he paused to search for his phone and make sure it was in a place where it wouldn't be damaged by water. He saw an unread text message on his phone and assumed it was from one of the others that he'd texted and he set it back down. He turned to the shower, and hesitated, deliberating on whether he should read it now or wait until after he was clean. Deciding that the text would just haunt him he picked it back up.

He nearly dropped the phone as he made out the name on the message.

**Blaine.**

What the hell? What was Blaine doing texting him? Oh god- had he texted Blaine when he was in the dumpster? Texted him instead of Finn or someone else? Shit. He opened the message with trepidation.

**From: Blaine**

** -What? Where are you stuck?**

Oh great. He sighed and bit his lip. Did he respond? Did he not respond? Did he call Blaine and scream at him because he felt lost and left behind?

"You doing okay in there, Kurt?" Mercedes voice echoed through the room. Realizing he was only in his underwear, he quickly spun around and entered a shower stall.

"Fine, it's just taking a bit longer to get all this gunk off."

Closing the curtain behind him he stared at the phone for another minute. Taking a deep breath he opened a new text and replied.

**To: Blaine**

** -Oops! Sorry, that was meant for someone else Not stuck anymore.**

He nodded to himself and set it down before turning the shower on. He stood beneath the scalding drops of water that beat down mercifully onto his taut skin for a few minutes before getting some soap from the bag he'd brought with him and used it to wash himself off. After several scrubs and rinses he finally deemed himself fit for the rest of the day. Barring any slushie facials.

He deftly grabbed his phone and towel as he made his way into the changing area of the locker room.

"You all set?" Rachel asked as she held out a bag of clothes.

"Yeah," he said tiredly, taking the clothes she offered him. He only hoped that there wasn't a need for a third pair of clothes today. Turning his back to them so he could pull his jeans on, he stopped when he heard a squeak.

"Oh Kurt,' Mercedes whispered sadly.

He felt her approach and tensed as her gentle fingers traced his shoulders, a spot he knew had to be practically purple from receiving the brunt landing from the toss this morning.

"It's okay. It doesn't really hurt," he lied without turning around. "I bet by tomorrow it'll be barely noticeable."

He heard a tut-like sound from the girls behind him, but shrugged. What could they do? What could anyone really do? He pulled on a dark grey t-shirt that read "Hummel's Auto Shop" and a pair of old jeans with a few tears. Anyone who knew him would think something was seriously wrong had they encountered him these clothes. However, he just wasn't willing to risk more than one pair of clothes in one day's time.

"Alright," he said with a sigh after peering at himself in the mirror and making sure his hair looked acceptable. "Let's go. We have an AP Calc lecture to not listen to."

They walked in silence to the classroom and Kurt sat down in his seat with a sigh. Mr. Penderton hadn't even noticed them come in late. He'd have to make sure to get the Calc notes from Tina later who had Penderton later in the afternoon for himself, as well as Rachel and Mercedes. A glance at the girls across the room told him that they too were not paying attention. In fact it looked suspiciously like they were passing notes. He rolled his eyes and resigned himself to staring blankly at the clock for the rest of the hour, wishing desperately for it to be Glee time, and then he could go home.

He pulled out his phone discreetly and saw it was blinking still. He would really have to charge it tonight or he might not be so lucky tomorrow if he had another run in with Azimio or the other jocks. He was sure that when Finn found out (from Puck) about what had happened he'd go off on Azimio and he was sincerely hoping that that wouldn't happen. The last thing Finn needed was to be suspended. His grades couldn't take it. Not to mention Carole and Burt would be pissed (about the fighting, not the defending his brother). Puck didn't need that either- he could go back to Juvie.

Ever since their parents had gotten married and Finn had also done a bit of growing up, and gotten over his fears of being seen as something or someone less for being associated with Kurt he'd been all about playing the brother card. All the time.

"Kurt don't walk down this hallway because I saw Karofsky and the jocks down there with slushies." ("Thanks for the heads up Finn.")

"Kurt don't you think it's a little late to go out? It's, like, dark and what if you get attacked?" ("I'm not a girl Finn. Plus I have the brass knuckles and the pepper spray you gave me. Cripes Finn it's only 8 o'clock. I'm just going to meet Mercedes and Tina at the bowling ally.")

"Kurt, if you need to talk about whatever is bothering you, you know you can talk to me. I know the bullying is getting worse." ("Finn, why aren't you ever like this when I bring you warm milk and try to initiate brotherly bonding?")

"Kurt, tell me who did it! I'll kick their ass. Was it Karofsky? Or Azimio? Or, oh god, was it that one really crazy girl who always hides in the boys locker room trying to get a look at the guys who shower?" ("Ummm Finn, I actually just ran into a door. Seriously. Don't kick that girl's ass. She's creepy. Don't even talk to her.")

It got a little annoying sometimes, but overall it was a nice feeling: having someone who was there for him.

When the bell rang he parted ways with the girls so he could make his way toward the home-ec room. Despite his foul mood he was feeling a little excited. Today they would be practicing cooking and he was really hoping it would be something useful to add to his arsenal. Like Crème Brule. He'd never been able to make a good Crème Brule.

As he rounded the corner he gasped in shock and snapped his eyes shut as a razor sharp icy fire lit upon his face. He could hear the jocks laughing at him as they passed and he fought back the urge to cry, as he wiped blue frozen ice from his eyes.

It was days like these that he really wished he had gone to Dalton.


	3. Go See the Garglers

**AN: Wow! Such a wonderful response with just two chapters. :) Thank you all so much for the favorites, alerts and reviews! They are all wonderful, just like you. I'm going to keep the description in for a bit longer, sorry to take up space. More will come tomorrow, if not this afternoon. :)**

**Here is a brief description of this AU to start you off: Kurt, Blaine and Wes were best friends growing up. Ever since Kurt had transferred to their grade school, they'd been inseparable; but, when it came time for High School Kurt gets some disappointing news and does not get to continue on to Dalton with them. Instead he returns to the Lima school district, and things unfold in a way generally similar to canon. One day, Kurt gets the opportunity to spy on the glee club at Dalton, and he goes to see what he's been missing out on, and reconnects with Wes and Blaine. (This will eventually be Klaine, because... they are my otp.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own glee.  
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><p><strong>Ch.2: Go See the Garglers<strong>

There was something in the air today. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it seemed to be affecting everyone. There were smiles and laughter and general happiness all through the halls of McKinley and he found it a bit odd. Not that he was one to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth when it stood before him. He would take whatever he could get. Even the jocks were being relatively un-abusive today. Whatever it was, Kurt liked it.

He was in an absolutely elated mood. It was Thursday morning and he had managed to avoid being tossed in the dumpster, the jocks appeared to be ultra distracted (with their new found happiness?) so there were no slushies to deal with, he'd gotten a 99% on his French mid-term (he was sure he'd deserved a 100% and he was determined to speak with Madame later on), his new Gucci shoes had arrived last night and best of all: Mr. Schue's glee assignment this week was to split them up into the traditional boys vs. girls and assign them songs that were traditionally sung by the opposite sex. While he had been initially annoyed with Mr. Schue for ignoring his desire to be with the girls, this was an assignment he could work with. He was definitely excited for fifth period today.

There was almost a skip in his step as he walked down the hall planning out the choreography to his favorite songs. There would be feather boas and sparkly striped shirts and leather boots. Oh yes, this would be good. He could finally get the boys to break out of their little shells of ignorance and try something new! He hummed under his breath, ignoring the voice in his head that told him the guys would probably never go for it, as he made his way to Rachel's locker where he knew Finn would be.

He felt an arm wrap around his shoulder as Noah Puckerman came into stride with him.

"Hey there Hummel," he said with a sly smile.

Kurt narrowed his eyes and shrugged out of the boy's grasp.

"No," he said suspiciously.

"Hey, I didn't say anything," the boy said with a mock hurt look. "I just wanted to see if maybe you'd like to hang out after school and help me with that project for chemistry."

"First of all," he said, stopping to stare at the boy, hand on his hip, "we're in physics, not chemistry, and second of all the answer is no. I'm not going to fall for that or those puppy eyes so put them away. I'm not that easy. Go ask someone else to let you copy their work."

Puck stood back and gave him a grin, "Damn Hummel- sassy. I like it!"

Kurt rolled his eyes and dodged the hand that had reached out to slap him on the back and continued merrily on his way to Rachel's locker.

"Hello Rachel," he greeted, stopping at her locker where she was chatting animatedly with Finn. "Hello Finn."

"Hey Kurt," she said, breaking away form her conversation with Finn to smile at him. "We're still on for tonight right? Breadstix?"

"Definitely," he agreed, giving her a genuinely happy smile.

"Hey Finn, are you and dad going to the Buckeye's game tonight?" he asked his stepbrother.

Finn's face lit up with excitement and Kurt just knew that any minute he was bound to start quoting stats at him and saying things that he didn't understand (and had no desire to). For the millionth time that day he reminded Kurt of a puppy that had just gotten his favorite toy. "Yeah man! I'm super excited. We even talked Mom into coming! You sure you don't want to come? We do have an extra ticket."

Kurt smiled at Finn brightly. It was a far cry from the pained 'I'm so in love with you' smile he'd used to save just for Finn. Now that he thought back on it, it kind of disturbed him a little bit. Oh well, the past was in the past. It touched him that Finn was finally thinking about him not as the weird gay boy who had a crush on him, but as part of his family. As his brother. He knew that Kurt had been initially very jealous of all the time he was spending with Burt, and since then had been attempting to include Kurt as much as possible.

Kurt's feelings of animosity toward Finn and his dad's budding relationship had faded away after his talk with his father and his own growing relationship with Carole. He hadn't had a real female presence in his life for a long time, and especially not one who had the potential to be a mother figure to him. He had to admit that he kind of liked it. Carole never judged him for who he was, and she never made fun of his sense of fashion or chalked all of his unusual quirks as part of "being gay." She accepted him for who he was and loved him for it. Plus, he totally enjoyed having someone to bake with and just chit-chat in general. He was also extremely grateful that there was someone else watching out for his father. Kurt's greatest fear was that something would happen to him and Kurt wouldn't be able to stop it, but with two sets of eyes watching it made Kurt feel much less anxious.

Their engagement hadn't really surprised him. He'd been expecting it, perhaps not so soon, but he had come to terms with it pretty early on. He hadn't seen his father happy in like this in years. He had been very touched, and perhaps a little teary eyed, when his father had come to him and sat him down to ask Kurt how he would feel about having Carole and Finn around as a permanent fixture in their lives. Kurt had been surprised to find that he was actually thrilled with the idea. Finn had been a little hesitant at first, and Kurt knew that. It was because he'd never had anyone other than his Mom and he still really did care what other people thought about him.

Then one day he'd found Karofsky shoving Kurt into a locker (literally, Kurt wasn't sure how he even managed to fit inside of it) and something just snapped in the boy.

Kurt didn't really like to think about Karofsky, or the numerous times a day that he was bullied by the boy, but it had changed things for Finn. Finn had realized that he couldn't not step up. He had realized that it didn't matter what other people thought about him; that Kurt was going to be his brother, and more than that, Kurt was his friend. And now Finn was being aware of his feelings. It made him incredibly proud of the boy's progress.

"Yea, I'm sure," he said with a smile. "I'm going to have dinner with the girls, and then go home and study. I have a mass media project and a Calc quiz tomorrow anyway."

"Cool dude," Finn said, reaching out to clap him on the shoulder. He leaned in and kissed Rachel on the cheek and told her he'd see her in the Glee club, before walking off to his next class. Kurt thought about pointing out that his class was in the opposite direction, but just shook his head fondly.

Rachel turned to him as soon as Finn was out of sight.

"Studying tonight? Please, Kurt, we both know that you of all people don't need to study for that Calc quiz. If you need to study for it, then I have no talent. What are you really doing?"

Kurt rolled his eyes at her perceptiveness, and beckoned to her to fall into stride with him as they made their way to their Drama class. Kurt was glad that after Drama they had lunch, because he was starving.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not studying, but having a night to myself at the house is kind of rare."

Rachel gave him a look.

"Are you going to have a guy over?" she teased, raising an eyebrow.

Kurt gave her a dazzling smile and reached out to link arms with her and dragging her toward the room.

"Gentlemen never tell," he retorted.

In fact Kurt did have plans that evening, but unfortunately they did not include a boy. He wished- like really _really_ wished that there were a boy involved. But alas…. No. Kurt Hummel's life was, as it quite often was, lacking in the boy department.

Kurt's plans included watch the entire most recent season of America's Next Top Model while working on writing his article on Materialism in America for his Mass Media class. He knew it sounded ridiculous- _him_ writing about materialism… but it was something that had really sparked his interest and he wanted to get it done with plenty of time to discuss it with his teacher.

He might also stop and pick up some cookie dough ice cream. Maybe.

By the time it was lunch Kurt had never been so happy to eat a chicken salad in his whole life. The glee boys had decided to hold their Boys Vs. Girls meeting during the lunch hour so they had more time to pick some songs and figure out a game plan. He finished up with his salad and was bouncing up and down in front of the other boys, showing them the plan he'd story boarded.

Except it didn't go as he'd hoped (he should probably learn to listen to that little voice in his head) and the boys had unanimously informed him that his ideas were too girly. But, he tried to rationalize, wasn't that the point of the assignment?

It's halfway through Kurt's attempt at appealing his case that Puck has the decency to go:

"Dude, why don't you make yourself useful and go put some rat poison in the old people's jello, or go visit the Garglers."

That pissed him off. For so many reasons.

"The Warblers," he returned tightly.

"Whatever, see what they're up to. You can wear all the feathers you want. You'll blend right in."

What. An. Asshole. Had he only recently been praising the progress that the boy had made? He noticed that none of the other boys spoke up to his defense either. Specifically that Finn did not speak up. Well then… that was just…fucking awesome. Screw them. This was exactly why he wanted to work with the girls. He blamed Mr. Schue for not listening to him, and he hated this stupid assignment and just….euuurgh.

"Fine," he said with a clenched jaw. He picked up his poster board and spun around on stormed out. Rachel would have been proud.

He missed the startled look between the other boys.

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><p><strong>Up next: Kurt sneaks into Dalton Academy and runs into a very familiar boy on the stairs.<strong>


	4. Complications

**AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/alerted!** **I'm so glad everyone liked it. There will be a second chapter up later tonight, as it goes directly with this one. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own glee.  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Ch. 3: Complications.<strong>

If his dad found out that he was skipping his afternoon classes, he'd probably kill him. There was no doubt in his mind that it would be brought up at dinner tonight; probably because Finn would tell him. Kurt found that he didn't actually care that much. He needed to do this.

After making a quick stop at the house to change, Kurt found himself out on the highway driving toward Westerville. It was both familiar and oh so very new to him.

He'd been on this road before at least a million and one times when he'd been attending Benjamin Harrison Elementary & Jr. High for the gifted program he'd been in. They'd driven this route day in and day out. Kurt had watched the grass roll by for miles' watched the wide-open country around the highway become cramped as the cities began to expand. In fact, his favorite strip mall had been built during the year of seventh grade, and resided almost exactly halfway between the two towns. He could remember every bump, grind, and contour of the grimy grey pavement that had definitely seen better days. He'd made trip a hundred times with his mom before her death, and many more with his dad afterward. He'd ridden with Blaine and Wes and their parents, and on occasion he'd made it on the school bus with his other classmates during field trips.

This was, however, his first time going it alone. Even more, it was his first time driving it at all. It was an exhilarating experience- a bit like going on a surprise road trip without telling anyone. He felt a bit like a badass, being out on the open road and relying only on himself; sneaking away from school to spy another glee club. Kurt wondered what Puck would have to say about that, when he found out that he had actually taken his advice.

The thrill of this unexpected mission had taken the edge of his anger toward the other boys. He was still pretty pissed off, but he'd deal with them later. Now, he had something more important to do.

His heart jolted in his chest sharply as he realized, for the hundredth time that hour that he might potentially see the two people who had at one time been amongst the most important people in his life. Not that they weren't _still_ important- were they? His mind was at war with himself, and all he really knew for sure was that his stomach was a bundle of nerves and flashes and tingles.

Now, he knew that there was one major flaw in his grand scheme. Since he was going to spy on a fellow glee club at a school where it was likely that a lot of people would recognize him he needed to be extra sneaky. Many of the boys who'd gone to Benjamin Harrison with them had ended up at Dalton, because that was the general transition for students at Benjamin Harrison. Did he try play it by ear and just say he was there to see Wes and Blaine? Did he tell the truth and say he was there to check out the Warblers? No, probably not. Probably admitting that he was from a rival glee club would just get him laughed at. More likely someone would recognize him right off and just assume he was there to see Wes and Blaine. He sighed. Obviously he was not actually cut out for the spy business if he couldn't even find a way to go incognito.

Kurt had tried to copycat the Dalton uniform as best he could, but it was difficult because he'd actually never owned one. He also prided himself in the fact that he'd grown a lot taller in the last few years and finally _finally_ lost the last of his baby-fat, but he wasn't naïve enough to think that this made him unrecognizable. Oh god- especially if he ran in to Blaine or Wes first! He hadn't thought of that. His stomach lurched again and he rubbed a nervous hand against his temple.

Oh well, he would just take it one thing at a time. Spying on another glee club couldn't be that hard, could it? Rachel did it all the time. Surely anything she could do, he could too. And really, he probably would see his friends before he left the school anyway. He wouldn't be telling a complete lie. How could he go to Dalton and _not _see them? It just seemed wrong. He missed them, and as usual Dalton was never far from his mind anyway.

He tried to shift his thoughts away _Dalton_ and what he was missing, but it was difficult. Some days, when the bullying reached a high, and he hated McKinley, the jocks, glee, and even himself; he seriously considered begging to come to Dalton. But he always stopped just short of asking, the pleading words stabbing at the tip of his tongue and staging a rebellion to flee the confines of his lips when he remembered that his father needed him. With Kurt gone, who would make him take his medication or keep him from sneaking bacon in the morning, or be there to help out at the garage when he was short staffed? He remembered his new family and his new room and the new house, and all of the money they did not have. And each and every time the words would die a succinct, quiet death, leaving his tongue numb and his throat dry, and a feeling of shame digging its way through his esophagus.

So Kurt stayed at McKinley and tried to pretend that he didn't know of a safe and familiarly welcoming world just beyond his own. He went to class, kept his grades up, went to glee, and smiled for his father. He hung out with Mercedes and Rachel, Tina, and occasionally Brit, Santana and Quinn. He would pretend that the reason he had more girl friends than guys was not because he was gay. And hen he did hang out with some of the guys, it wasn't really the same. He got together with Sam and Mike once in awhile to watch Star Wars or something equally cool, and other times he played video games with Finn and Puck. But it wasn't really the same; it was lacking that deep connection he sought in friends. That connection he'd found once in Blaine and Wes, where they just _knew_ everything about him and knew what he wanted and what he needed even before he did.

A surge of hope flared behind his eyes and he considered that maybe he could get it back.

Without really noticing, Kurt realized he'd reached the Westerville exit. With a quick look back, he swung into the exit lane and took a right at the stop sign. Westerville was a happy little town: home to about 35,000 upper class citizens, with perfectly paved streets and the greenest grass (now browning at the slightest hint of the upcoming winter) and tall buildings and charming offices lining the business district. In the neighborhoods there were a few rows of expanding layers of three story homes with huge beautiful gardens creeping around the front and large expanses of yard fenced in at the back. It was a paradise that Kurt often imagined himself living in someday.

Several blocks later Kurt spotted the gateless limestone arch that was the entrance to Dalton Academy's parking lot, and with a smile he pulled in easily. The main building was a gorgeous as it had always been. It was full of windows and softly curving corners that made it seem more like a mansion than a school.

Parking in the back, he made his way up the stairs of the front entrance and slipped through the door casually, eyeing the halls for roaming teachers or administrators. Luckily, he found the hall empty.

Click, click, click. Probably he shouldn't have worn the boots. He clapped a hand over his eyes in brief embarrassment and made a mental note to add it to his list of things not to do while spying. The floor beneath his boots was a glorious marble tile of swirling brown and tan, and the walls accented this by being a creamy white decorated with thick black portraits of former headmasters and school board directors. Each corridor was marked with an arch and strikingly beautiful French doors to classrooms. It made him feel like he'd stepped into another dimension.

Kurt had arrived in the middle of sixth period, meaning that there was just one more period after this; and he was sure that the Warblers would either be practicing in one of these periods or right after school. All he had to do was wait it out.

Or so he thought.

Suddenly, the hall began to flood with boys and he was lost in a sea of blue and red blazers. His mouth opened in a comically wide "oh" as he realized just how poorly he'd done with his "uniform." He let out a squeak as he was stampeded, and he half expected to be shoved to one side or another so that the mass of boys could get to their destination. Instead he found that he was the unintentional five-boy pile up as one after another skidded to a halt and tried to avoid running into him. He flinched back as more than one tossed him a slight scowl, but was surprised when nothing else happened.

So Dalton _was_ really s different from McKinley as he'd imagined. He kept a casual eye on his surrounding and started following some of the boys down a spiral staircase on the left. Where were they going, and what could be so important that it took place in the middle of class? An assembly? Well, the only way to find out was to ask someone. He flicked his eyes around quickly and reached out to grab someone gently. He opened his mouth to say: _Hi, I'm new here. Could you tell me what's going on?_

Instead, he took one look at the guy he'd grabbed as he turned around and his mouth dropped open. Holy crap!

"Blaine?" he gasped, dropping his hand from the shoulder as if he'd been burned. It felt like time had stopped.

Wide hazel eyes locked onto his and thick black brows flew up.

"Kurt?" he sounded shocked, and looked equally confused. "What are you doing here?"

Kurt gave the boy a nervous smile and tried to pull himself together. _Don't mention glee, don't mention glee, don't mention glee _he chanted himself.

"I'm actually here to see you," he said with a nervous laugh, "and Wes. Funny, running into you here. I mean… not _here_ like Dalton, because you go here. Heh. And I came to see you. I mean, just funny because you're right here at this exact moment, and I was lost and looking for you and… I don't really know exactly what I mean, but…"

Blaine was giving him and odd look, but smiled slightly. "Wow, I mean, I really wasn't expecting to see you today, not after all this time. Not that it's a bad surprise!"

Kurt swallowed another nervous chuckle and resisted the urge to start wringing his hands together.

"So, what exactly is going on here? Don't you have class?"

"The same could be asked of you…but there's an impromptu concert being put on by the Warblers in the choir room. It happens every now and again. Kinda shuts down the school for a bit."

Kurt's eyes narrowed. "Wait… the Warbler? Like the school's glee club? Glee club is cool here?"

Now Blaine really laughed. "Dude, the Warblers are like rock stars!"

Well shit. Kurt was going to transfer here tomorrow.

"Oh… well that's cool. I mean, I can umm totally wait or come back after or… maybe I shouldn't have…"

"I can see you never grew out of the rambling," Blaine said with a knowing grin, and suddenly everything felt a bit easier.

Kurt looked at Blaine and his eyes locked onto the dimples and his eyes widened. Wow, Blaine had filled out really well.

Oh no. What was that feeling in his stomach that was threatening to bubble upwards until it reached his brain? No. He refused to give it a name, but he was ignoring the fact that it probably had something to do with the intense way that Blaine's were focused on him and the smile that was making his heart long for his best friend to just _know_ everything about him again like he used to.

"Come on," Blaine interrupted with a smile, "of course I'm not sending you away, dummy. You can come see the Warblers with me. We'll grab coffee afterwards."

Well, that worked out.

"Okay," he said awkwardly.

"Come on, I know a shortcut."

And then Blaine grabbed his hand and his brain short-circuited. They were running at a fast pace down the hallway and he reveled in the feeling of Blaine's familiar warm hand clasped around his. He let himself pretend that they'd never stopped being friends and that this was just a normal occurrence.

They arrived at a big common room completely packed front to back with boys waiting for the show. Oh God. He stuck out. So much. Boys were looking at him in confusion, and a few with recognition.

"Oh… I stick out like a sore thumb," he whispered to Blaine.

Blaine laughed and reached out to pat him on the shoulder and winked, "Next time, don't forget your jacket, new kid."

Kurt's eyes grew even wider at the implication that Blaine realized the similarity between his outfit and the Dalton uniform. Surely he didn't think he was here to spy on the Warblers. No… that was silly. He thought Kurt was here to see him, and oh great this was just so messed up. He should probably just mention glee club and get it out in the open.

But then Blaine was backing up and handing his bag off to another boy before joining the group in the middle of the room that had begun to sing.

Oh, and there was Wes, also in the group of what he now knew to be the Warblers. He resisted the urge to panic at the epic failure that was his spying expedition.

Except, well he was getting to see the Warblers. He just hadn't actually considered that his friends would actually be a part of the group. He was starting to feel a little bit bad about the spying thing. Stupid brain. Stupid feelings.

Wes spotted him and a confused frown found its way to his features, and Kurt waved at the boy in greeting. He received a small smile in return. And then he'd turned away as the song really started.

He let out an audible gasp as Blaine opened his mouth and began to sing the opening verse of Katy Perry's _Teenage Dream._

In retrospect, he probably should have realized that Blaine would be amazing at singing. He'd definitely sung a few times when they were younger, and had always been good. Wes too. But now that he'd grown up a bit and matured, and his voice had deepened slightly he was just… amazing was the only way for Kurt to describe it. He was definitely going to be fantasizing about a duet with him in the near future. Except of course they had no idea that eh could sing too. He'd always refused to sing with them because at that time in his life he'd been a bit ashamed of the high pitch of his voice.

And oh lord, was Blaine singing directly _to_ him? This was all very confusing because friends who hadn't seen each other in like 2 years didn't sing songs about touching each other's skintight jeans, did they? His hormones were jumping the gun a bit, and he tried to push them down fiercely. His mind was spinning in dizzying circles and he was just so so confused. Why was he here again?

He was _this_ close to fanning himself. Hooo-boy. Blaine, and the uniform, and the hair…well actually he liked Blaine's hair a lot better without the gel. Probably… If he didn't know Blaine, and didn't know that the hair was a vital part of the boys personality… then maybe he would insist on the gel.

When the song ended and the boys were breaking up to head back to class, he watched the Warblers patting each other on the back, and all of a sudden Kurt did not want to be here. His mind was warring with delight and fear at how good the Warblers were and slight shame at spying on them.

He'd just lied to Blaine and told him that he'd been here to see him, and then used him to see the Warblers sing. He watched Wes sling an arm around Blaine's shoulders and laugh at something he'd said, and he just felt so out of place. Why couldn't New Directions be like this group of boys here who seemed so friendly and genuine and not at all dramatic.

And why wasn't Kurt a part of it? Why was he feeling so insanely jealous? It wasn't fair. He couldn't do this. Couldn't be here.

Before Blaine and Wes could turn their attention away from their companions, he turned around and slipped quickly out of the room and into the hall.

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><p><strong>Up next: Not to fear, Kurt won't get away that easily. How do things go when he finally gets to sit down and talk with his old friends?<strong>


	5. Here again

**AN: Finally ff is allowing me to publish. :) Sorry for the delay! Happy... monday! (I already miss the weekend.)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch. 4: Here again. <strong>

He made it all the way to the commons before he heard a voice call out for him.

"Kurt!"

It was Blaine. He stopped, and sighed, before turning back around.

Wes was jogging behind him, followed by another boy from the Warblers that he didn't recognize.

"Kurt, why did you leave? I thought we were going to get coffee and catch up?" he said looking equal parts confused and hurt.

Kurt gave him a tight sad smile. "I shouldn't have come here, Blaine. I should have just let it go."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Blaine said slowly, reaching a hand out to his shoulder, "but don't leave. We all have a free period now. Come get coffee with us."

Blaine was looking at him with those stupid wide expressive eyes and Wes was just looking confused but also excited, and Kurt found he couldn't say no to them.

"Erm, yeah, okay," he said sheepishly. "Coffee."

Once they were seated at table in the small Dalton Café –and oh yeah, they had a café… he really needed to transfer here- Kurt occupied himself with drinking his non-fat mocha and trying to think of a way to break the awkward silence. At least the awkwardness had given him the ability to tamp down on that strange feeling he got whenever he looked at Blaine.

The third boy that had joined them was named David. Kurt took a moment to give him the once over and immediately decided that he was perhaps a bit jealous of him. He was tall and well muscled; he had dark even toned skin that was just looked really smooth. Did he moisturize the way Kurt did? That voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Puck's reminded him that probably no on moisturized with the vigorous intensity that he did. Which meant it was natural, and Kurt cursed him for it. David appeared to be the complete opposite of Kurt. He was composed and not openly emotional, not effeminate like Kurt, and he definitely didn't appear to be very self-centered or dramatic.

So yes, Kurt was a little jealous that he'd been, for lack of a better word, replaced by someone so completely opposite of him. Plus he kept shooting Kurt this evil look that made Kurt feel as though he were the scum beneath his polished Dalton-issue dress shoes…and he couldn't really put a reason behind it.

"So Kurt, what brings you to Dalton?" Wes asked. "I mean, it's been about a year and a half since you've set foot in Dalton, man. Not to mention called, texted or spoken to us. What changed?"

Ouch. Was that a little bit of hurt and anger that Kurt detected in Wes' voice? Well, it was a two-way door. He contemplated his answer.

_I came under severe peer pressure to spy on your glee club so that I could prove myself worthy to my glee club. Also, it was sort of an excuse to see you._

He went with the defensive.

"Hey, it's not like you've been to Lima either…" he said lightly, trying desperately to reign in his inner diva, "but listen, I'm not here to point fingers or talk about what things changed or went wrong. I just wanted to…to see you guys again. I don't really know what prompted it, but it was just this feeling. Okay? I know we haven't been the closest lately, but I still really care about you. I also came to see Dalton. I know this might seem weird to you, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I'd been able to come here."

He wasn't sure how he had managed to start steering himself into the list of topicshe generally filed under _do not talk about with others_, but here they were.

"Is that why you stopped coming to see us? Because you were jealous?" Blaine asked tightly.

No. No, I stopped coming because suddenly I found myself in _hell_ and I didn't think that I could handle pretending everything was okay anymore.

"No. Well, not really. I just got caught up in everything that was going on with at home," he said with a shrug. "I think we all did. I don't want to argue over semantics, and I know things can't really be the same, but I'd be really happy if we could try to be good friends again. Or friends. Something. Anything."

I need you.

"Kurt," Wes said with something that sounded like fond exasperation, "We were definitely hurt by your lack of contact. It was as though you had suddenly dropped off the face of the Earth. But we never stopped caring. How could we? I mean, you were a constant present in our lives since we were 6. That's a lot of years dude."

Kurt scowled at the use of the word 'dude' but refrained from commenting.

He felt slightly abashed. He kept his head down, but turned to glance at Blaine through his lashes, biting his lip and waiting.

"You are such a dummy. Of course we can still be friends. We never stopped."

His lips twisted into a small, relieved smile.

"That's it?" David demanded suddenly, as he stood up abruptly. "You're just going to welcome him back with open arms? After all the grief you guys went through when he abandoned you?"

He turned to Kurt and glared at him fiercely. "Listen, Hummel. I don't care what they say, I don't think you're worth their time or friendship."

He then stormed off, and Kurt would later wonder if his next thoughts spoke to the insanity of his life.

That boy doesn't quite have it down; Rachel Berry could teach him a thing or two about storming off.

But then he blinked and realized that the comments were aimed at himself, and he felt slightly stricken.

"Oh…" he murmured dazedly. "I mean…I … wow. I guess there's nothing like telling it like it is."

Wes and Blaine were staring at each other in surprise, but Wes started scowling.

"Ignore him, Kurt. He's being completely and inappropriately overprotective of us. We've been through a lot in the last few years."

Had they been targets for every single school bully too? Had they been tossed into dumpsters like they were trash, locked into porter potties and had slushies thrown at them? He hoped not.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling tears that he hadn't cried in such a long time spring to his eyes. "I'm sorry I stopped coming to see you. I just… I have no excuses other than that my life was just out of control for a while. I should have been here. He's right."

"Kurt," Blaine said with a weary sigh. "I appreciate the apology, but don't be a martyr. We could have tried to keep in contact just as well as you."

"Don't cry," Wes added softly. "I hate it when you cry Kurt. It makes me sad too. A couple of harsh words and a few years couldn't keep us from being friends. We're meant for something great, I know it. Always have."

He looked at both of them with awe and felt an overwhelming feeling of peace and love come flooding into him. Suddenly, and without warning, the self-inflicted dam burst, and he could feel his face promptly crumple and tears just started pouring out. He was so overcome that he didn't even have time to be embarrassed.

Kurt could feel their shocked gazes and he tried to rein it in, thankful that no one else was here to witness this (most others having already gone off to their dorms for break or to their next classes), to no avail.

"Oh my gosh," he chocked out, "I'm sorry. I can't … *hiccup*…"

"Kurt, is everything okay?" Blaine asked worriedly.

Wes was looking as though he thought Kurt was being possessed.

"No," he confessed through a sob. "Nothing is ever okay, and here I am crying like a freakin baby about it because I can't handle it. No wonder people hate me."

"Hate you…?" Wes asked, voice sharp and surprised.

"You guys haven't really spent a lot of time in Lima lately have you? " he whispered, finally managing to stop the tears and wiped furiously at this eyes with his jacket sleeve. "I know…that we all know that Blaine and I are gay… but I feel like we lived in some kind of fairytale land when we were growing up. I'm sure things haven't been a walk in the part for you either, Blaine, but in Lima the hate is just… so strong. I've never wanted to just run away and be someone else more than these last few years."

Scrubbing fiercely at his eyes, he waited silently for them to say something. He expected them to be angry with him, because here he was using them for comfort. They probably thought he was here for some sort of emotional validation, and not to renew their friendship.

That was not even including the whole glee thing. He knew he couldn't go there, not now. He needed them too much to do something that might potentially drive them away.

"Kurt, are you being bullied?" Wes asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

He snorted, "Yes."

"Have you told someone?"

"Yes. No one cares. I mean, Dad cares and my friends do, but no one really does anything about it. Especially the teachers and the principal. Its too much work to defend the only out gay kid in the school," he said bitterly.

Kurt," Blaine said suddenly, voice shaky, reaching out to grab his hand and squeeze it tightly. "Never think that this is okay. Never. You are so incredible, beautiful and smart and deserve so much more than a bunch of homophobic bullies hurting you. I haven't… been bullied here at Dalton, but I have run into some of it out in public. And like you, no one really cared. It was like 'okay, you're gay, that's great. Take care of yourself.' I just let it happen and I didn't do anything. I didn't stand up for myself. I will never stop regretting that. There's something you can do Kurt."

He blinked up at him and tilted his head, sniffling.

"Teach them, Kurt. Teach them that what they're doing is wrong before it's too late to learn. Show them that they're being ignorant and how amazing you are."

He flicked his eyes to Wes, who nodded, and reached out for his other hand.

"You can do it Kurt. And now that you're here, we're never letting you get away again. Those assholes don't realize what an amazing friend they're not getting the chance to have. And we'll be here to talk when things aren't going your way."

He bit his lip, and tried to smile. They obviously did not quite understand what bullying meant for him, or how difficult what they were telling him to do would be. But he found that he didn't care. They were friends again, and that was all that mattered. All he needed.

"I'll be here too," he said, voice growing stronger. "I'll do everything I can to make up for abandoning you. I promise you."

"Okay," Blaine said, "I think this calls for a hug."

Kurt rubbed his eyes again and raised an eyebrow at him.

Wes gave a pained sigh.

"Best to do as he says or he'll wine about the lack of hugs for days and days until we just have no other choice but to give in."

Blaine stood up and beckoned to them to join him. Kurt couldn't help the slight giggle that escaped him as he stood and tentatively moved to place himself into an awkward side hug with Blaine. Wes did the same.

"You guuuys," Blaine said in annoyance as he squished them into his embrace. "That is not a hug. Hugs are all about feeling and releasing tension. Do it!"

He was full out giggling now and he couldn't stop, and all awkwardness faded away as he wrapped his arms around them quickly. It lasted for a good 10 seconds until Wes began to squirm and then pushed them away.

"Okay, girly moment over," he said, stepping away from the reach of Blaine's arms. "No more crying, Kurt Hummel. It doesn't suit you. And Blaine, no more hugs for like a whole month, got it?"

"You know you love to hug," Blaine teased back.

Kurt was grinning wildly and for a moment it felt like he'd never been anywhere but here, with the best friends he'd always known.

He left Dalton Academy feeling stronger than he had in months.

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><p><strong>Up Next: Kurt has dinner at Breadsticks with the girls, and meets a new friend.<strong>


	6. Breadsticks

**AN: Again, you guys are so great! I haven't caught up on responding to reviews yet, but hopefully tomorrow! There will also hopefully be an update tomorrow afternoon! I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors. :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch. 6: Breadsticks<strong>

"So Kurtie-pie, where were you during glee today, and why did Finn look like he'd killed a kitten?" Santana sneered affectionately, eyebrow raised.

Kurt tried not to laugh at the thought of Finn's kicked puppy expression and the idea that he could kill…well, anything. The boy couldn't even kill an ant without feeling bad about it.

"If you were anyone else, Santana, you would never get away with calling me that," he said, glowering at the nickname. "And if you _must_ know, I was spying on the competition."

"Kurt!" Rachel gasped in horror. "You remember how this turned out last time! Did they catch you?"

"Oh dayum, Kurtzizzle, you went to the all boys school, didn't you?" Santana asked with smirk. "Did you get some?"

Kurt clapped a hand over his eyes, but couldn't stifle the giggles that burst forth.

"Oh my god, you did! Spill, Kurt before I slap you for not telling me about this first!" Mercedes growled as she bit into a new breadstick.

After taking a moment to delicately tear off a piece of his own breadstick, he chewed thoughtfully and regarded his girls.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you something, but it does not leave the table. I mean it. You can't tell any of your boyfriends, especially not Finn."

He waited for nods of confirmation before launching into his tale. He told them everything. He told them how he knew Blaine and Wes, how he'd sortof maybe developed feelings for Blaine, how David hated him, and how he had lied and hadn't told them that he was from New Directions.

There was a brief silence when he finished, and he looked at their varying expressions of surprise and approval.

"How come you never mentioned them before now if they meant so much to you?" Rachel asked curiously.

Kurt sighed, "It's not really that simple. None of us really started out as friends, right? By the time we started hanging out it was just easier not to talk about them. It hurt too much."

"Well, you have to tell them," Tina said. "I mean what if they found out and got really mad?"

"No, no," Santana interrupted, "no. You don't _have _to tell them anything. I know you feel guilty or whatnot, porcelain, but it works both ways. Besides, you stand a better chance of getting with Blaine Warbler if you keep omitting this particular truth."

"Well I don't agree," Tina said looking at Kurt. "I mean they were your best friends. They at least deserve to know that part of the reason you went to Dalton was to spy. I mean, yes, you would have stopped in to see them anyway probably but…I just don't think any relationship can be founded on a lie. They're important to you, and because you want them to stick around you need to be honest with them."

Kurt twirled his fork into his spaghetti and sighed again.

"I don't know. I'm going to have to tell them before sectionals, I mean there's no way they wouldn't notice me singing on stage…"

Mercedes reached out and squeezed his hand.

"I have every faith that you'll figure it out and do the right thing, boo. Now let's move the drama away from Kurt, eh?"

Kurt smiled gratefully at his best friend and then laughed out loud as they launched into a heated discussion about how the Hockey team had been creamed in their first match of the season and that no one had even bothered showing up to watch the game.

Looking down momentarily at his phone to see if his Dad had texted him to check in yet, he realized he already had two new texsts.

**From: Blaine**

**-**Courage, Kurt. So glad you came by today! XXX ( those are hugs, see? Hahaha)

**From: Wes**

Good to see you today, Kurt. Coffee sometime this week for sure.

It was both funny and fascinating that their text messages reflected their general emotional states, and he tried not to feel too guilty about the lie as he sent quick responses that consisted of a smiley face and an "I missed you," before forcing it from his mind.

By the time dinner had broken up there had been three arguments between Rachel and Santana that had nearly resulted in the use of food as weapons, and everyone was ready to call it a night. It was already almost 8:30 and he really did want to go home and work on his project and have the TV to himself for a bit before his family made it back from the game. He figured that they'd be home around 10, so that gave him about an hour to get settled in before he had to fight for control of the channels.

It was as he was parting ways with Mercedes and heading in the opposite direction to the Navigator that he ran face first into something solid. He had only turned his head back to wave once more for a second, and apparently forgotten to pay attention to his surroundings. Stumbling back he let out a surprised gasp as he started to fall.

He was caught abruptly as two hands grabbed his waist and steadied him, pulling him upward and righting the crooked world. Great, he'd run into a person.

"You should really watch where you're going, Hummel. What if I'd been a car or something?" a smooth voice asked him.

He looked up at the person and realized that he knew him. From school. But he couldn't quite remember his name.

"Oh," he said breathlessly, "yeah, I'm sorry…"

"Ellery," he said with a small smirk, leaning his head forward toward Kurt as if this would prompt a total recall for Kurt to remember him.

"Right… Ellery. We're in Mass Media together right?"

There was a hint of amusement in his voice. "Yeah, that's right. I'm a little disappointed you forgot my name though."

It was at this point Kurt realized that _Ellery's _hands were still on his waist holding him up and his face heated as he wondered if the boy was purposefully holding him in place.

"Umm…I guess I'm not good with names. You can let go of me now, by the way. I'm not going to fall, I promise."

The hands didn't jerk away quickly like he'd expected them too, but they moved slowly, almost slithering away from his hips.

"Well, just wanted to be sure, you know," he said with an amused drawl.

"Are you, um, hitting on me?"

A deep rumble deep within the boys' chest erupted as laughter that made Kurt shiver slightly.

"If I was, would you flirt back?"

"Maybe," he said strangled smile.

Except behind his vision all he could see were Blaine's wide hazel eyes looking up at him with surprise and happiness when they'd first run into each other on that staircase at Dalton.

"Well, not that you aren't totally doable, but I'm not gay."

Kurt backed up slightly at that.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought… I mean you… and your hands and… oh lord. I'm just going to go…"

A hand reached out to grip his arm, "Hey, hey. I told you, I don't have anything against it. I'm form San Francisco, man. It's totally cool, and I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea. I guess I was a bit more touchy feely than I should have been. Sometimes I forget I'm in the middle of conservative USA."

"Ah, no. It's okay, really. I just sometimes come on a little strong too. I suggest we just pretend it never happened. You'll be better off at school anyway. People won't bully you that way."

Ellery rolled his eyes. "Do I look like I care what other people think of me Kurt?"

Kurt looked at him, like _really looked_, and he had to admit that no, Ellery did not look all that much like he gave a shit what other people had to say. He was taller than Kurt, with a wave of dread-locked blonde hair that was pulled back into a frizzy ponytail, and a black leather jacket that fit very snugly. There was a rectangular bulge in the jacket's left pocket and he could see a pack of Marlboro Red's sticking out.

"Smoking could kill you," he commented.

"So could not watching where you're going," he said, and blue eyes twinkled at him in silent laughter.

"So you've got the bad boy look going on for sure, but you don't seem like a bad boy. You seem more like you're trying to stick out. And let me tell you, not the best idea in Lima. I wonder… can you sing?"

Ellery looked surprised. "If you count off key yowling that has been compared to a dying cow."

Kurt laughed, feeling happy for once at the ability to have a conversation with a boy and not have insinuations made about his sexuality or his intentions.

"Well, that's too bad. Maybe you should try out for the soccer team. I hear they've got a left center position open."

"You just want to see me in spandex shorts," the boy teased.

Kurt made a gagging noise.

"Oh god, if you could only see the rest of the soccer team you'd understand that I _never_ want to see anyone from that team in spandex. Ever. But seriously, maybe you should find something to join. It'll make life a lot easier. Trust me."

A contemplative look crossed the taller boys' features.

"I'll think about it, and I'll see you in class tomorrow. I've got to be heading out."

Kurt watched him go with a forlorn smile. Why couldn't he be gay? Even better, why couldn't Blaine suddenly decide that Kurt was the love of his life and that they were always destined to be together?

Oh well. He made sure to pay attention to his surroundings as he walked to his car.

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><p><strong>Note: A little note on this section. There is the introduction of an OC here, but he will not play a major part to the plot of the story. The way I see Ellery Sax is that he is a new friend for Kurt (someone who gives him this little shred of hope that the rest of the world isn't all that bad- so I suppose arguably this could be considered huge, but regardless he's not actually in the story more than a few times.) and also a modem for expanding Kurt's interests and hobbies. I feel like often a person, while sometimes defined by their greatest dream or interests (Ex. In Canon it appears to be broadway for Kurt and Rachel), also likes and keeps up with other interests. I like to think that Kurt is a little diverse in his interests, and has a life outside of the choir room- because we don't really see that in the show. So, this is a part of Ellery's purpose that will <strong>_**eventually**_** play out.**

**Up next: Blaine makes a surprise visit to McKinley.**


	7. Coffee, and it's like coming home

**AN: Finally done with the biggest parts of my day, and on to updating! Thank you again for all of your responses, you are all very fabulous. This chapter is especially long, and to be honest... the next several chapters were initially all part of one chapter. But then it all got so big and I didn't want to rush anything, so... they all became their own chapters. I refer to this next segment of upcoming chapters in my head collectively as "coffee dates" in which Kurt is never without his coffee, or someone to enjoy it with. Enjoy, and feel free to drop me a review or comments or thoughts. All are welcome and appreciated. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch. 7: A change of clothes, some coffee, and coming home.<strong>

A few days had passed since Kurt had reconnected with Blaine and Wes, and he was still floating on the high. He smiled, he didn't argue with Mr. Schue over choice of artist, he didn't insult Azimio during French and he didn't even comment on Rachel's choice outfit of the day. The best part of the week had ironically been when Mr. Schue was sick, and they had gained a substitute in Glee named Ms. Holiday. She was extremely awesome, and they had celebrated having a teacher who understood the importance of modern artists and singing things that they liked. Of course she had gotten a little out of control, and he had been really glad when Mr. Schue came back, but still. Pretty awesome.

This was not to say that life was perfect or anything, because Karofsky was still being a jerk. He was just trying not to let it bother him quite as much. He wasn't sure how he was going to follow Blaine's advice and "teach" them about how wrong their actions were, but he was basking in the glow of feeling like he wasn't alone for the time being. It was afterschool and he was headed to his locker with the intentions of grabbing his books and then going home to help his Dad in the shop and then getting in some good study time.

Of course, as usual his plan did not go like he meant it too. Because there was Blaine, leaning coolly up against the dull gray lockers, one foot angled back against the metal, and giving him a silly grin. Kurt couldn't help but notice that outside of Dalton the uniform seemed to make Blaine look even more attractive. He thanked whoever it was out there that people couldn't actually hear each other's thoughts, because Blaine would be running in the opposite direction if he could. However, despite himself, a grin formed on his own lips.

"What are you doing here? Don't you ever have class?" he asked teasingly.

Blaine smirked, "The privilege of being an upper classman now, like I told you before, we get to choose when our free periods are and one of mine happens to be at the end of the day on Fridays. So…I thought I would come up and get a feel for Lima again. Maybe stop in and say hello to Burt too? And I thought we could grab some coffee first?"

All thoughts of doing homework vanished and his smile broadened. "Yes! That would be fantastic actually. I can't believe that you came all the way here so you could spend your Friday afternoon with me. Will you stay for dinner? Dad and Carole would love to have you, I know it!"

"Of course I'll stay," he said with a confused smile, "but who is Carole?"

"Oh my god," he said with a surprised laugh. "I forgot that you didn't know. My Dad got remarried this summer. His new wife is Carole, and I have a step brother named Finn now."

Blaine's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, wow. Well… congratulations are in order I guess. I… wow… she must be an amazing woman. I sort of always thought your dad would never remarry."

He smiled slightly and hugged his books tightly and bounced slightly in excitement.

"Oh she is. She's the best step-mom I could have asked for. Finn is also a pretty good brother when he's not being a complete moron."

"Kurt!" Blaine said, pretending to be scandalized. "One does not speak of one's family that way."

They both burst into a small fit of laughter.

"But really, Kurt. That's awesome. I'm so happy for you guys."

Kurt gave him another shy smile and moved past him to twist the lock on his locker. And then the inevitable happened.

Slosh. Laughter. Clenched teeth.

"What the hell was that?" Blaine gasped in horror as red ice dripped down his face and clothing.

Kurt had his own eyes squeezed shut in a mixture of horror and an attempt to keep the burning liquid out of his eyes.

"_That," _he ground out dangerously, "was a slushie facial. The jocks think it's hilarious to walk around tossing slushies at people."

Especially the glee club, but Blaine didn't need to know that. Although… now would be a good way to lead into it.

Oh hey… by the way I'm in glee club too!

"Well it _burns_. Good god. Why didn't anyone stop them?"

Kurt almost laughed and sighed at the same time before reaching out to grab Blaine's hand as he wiped blindly at his eyes.

"Come on, let's go get cleaned up. I think Finn has some clothes that might fit you."

Kurt dragged him toward the girls locker room where he knew Santana, Quinn and Brittney would be getting ready for Cheerios practice.

As he pushed open the doors and made his way in he could hear the gaggle of girls giggling and he could feel Blaine tense.

"Don't worry, they won't bite- Kurt Hummel and friend in the room!" he called out.

"Who's the friend Hummel? And can I lick off the grape slushie on his face?"

Blaine's eyes were as wide as they could be with purple liquid flowing down his face.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "No, keep your hands to yourself Santana. We just needed a place to clean up. This is Blaine. He came to surprise me… and got a slushie tossed at him instead."

"Aww, San, why would they throw a slushie at a puppy?"

Kurt grabbed one of the spare towels from the rack and got it wet before turning to Blaine and gently wiping the liquid from his face.

"He's not a puppy Brit Brit," Kurt replied as he handed the towel off and started taking care of himself. "Could one of you go grab Finn's extra clothes?"

Quinn nodded and he gave her a grateful look. He pulled Blaine into an unoccupied part of the locker room and sat them down (away from the hungry eyes of the girls- and Santana).

"Why are we in a girls locker room?" Blaine asked in bewilderment as they sat down on the benches in front of the lockers.

"The girls are pretty understanding when it comes to the jocks. They don't mind that I come in here to change or get cleaned up, and it saves me the trouble of having to find an unoccupied men's room, and anyway you're lucky," Kurt commented with a small smile for his friend.

He couldn't help but notice the way he had missed a spot on his neck, and a purple drop of water was rolling its way sinuously down Blaine's neck and getting caught up in the juncture between his neck and shoulder. Kurt had the strange urge to lean forward and lick it clean for him.

"How's that?" Blaine asked in a strained voice, though he spared a smile for Kurt.

"They didn't get any in your hair," he said with a smile. "Getting that out is a bitch."

A startled laugh came from Blaine and he felt relief, because that meant Blaine wasn't mad at him for getting him slushied.

"Kurt?" Quinn's voice called.

"Back here," he answered her.

She appeared around the row of lockers and held out both Finn's clothes, and a bag with

Kurt's own. He gave her a wide smile, and stood up to hug her before taking them.

"Thanks sweetheart."

She gave him a soft smile and then rolled her eyes. "Don't get used to it Hummel, I can't let my reputation slip any further than it has."

He flipped her off. She smirked one last time before leaving them alone. He heard her yell at the other girls to get to practice ASAP.

He handed the clothes to Blaine and smiled. "You can wear these. They might be a bit big…Finn is kind of really freaking tall. By the way, I am so _so_ sorry that you had to experience this on your first visit to see me… I would still love to get coffee and have dinner… but you know if you're too traumatized by the monstrosity of this school… it's totally okay. I would understand…"

"You're rambling again," Blaine interrupted with a fond smile. "And you did not throw that… slushie…at me. Those jocks did. So it's not your fault. I know you said that the bullying was pretty commonplace, and I guess I should have expected something like this. I guess Dalton is a bit of a shelter, because nothing like that would ever happen there."

He sighed. As if he didn't realize this.

"And of course I still want to get coffee with you dummy. And have dinner! I can't wait to meet your new family members! I'll be their favorite of your friends in no time."

"Ha. A little arrogant don't you think? What if I they already have a favorite?"

"I'm way awesomer."

"Definitely not a word, friend."

"You're just jealous of my mad word making skills."

The bantering continued that way while they finished cleaning up and got changed. And just like that Kurt felt the tension that had been creeping into his mind and causing him anxiety fade away. This was just like it'd always been.

As soon as they'd changed they made their way out of the locker room, and Kurt had to smile at Blaine's new look. Finn's jeans were definitely a bit on the long side and so they were rolled up a bit at the bottom and they were definitely baggier than he normally wore. He was also wearing one of Finn's striped white and orange polos and a loose fitting gray zip up hoodie over it. He looked less like Blaine than Kurt had ever seen him, especially with that dorky-gelled hair of his.

"Coffee?" he asked casually as they walked in the direction of his locker, just to be sure Blaine hadn't changed his mind.

Blaine rolled his eyes, "Yeah Kurt. You want to meet there or drive together and come back and get your car?"

Kurt thought about it for a moment and checked the time. 3:30. Finn would be in practice until five, and if Kurt gave him his keys then Finn wouldn't have to ride the activity bus home after he got done.

"Let's drive together," he said with a smile. "I'll leave my keys with Finn and he can drive the Navigator home."

Blaine raised an eyebrow and teased, "You're letting your step-brother drive your baby? I haven't been around you for 2 years and even I know it's a big deal to let someone else drive the Navigator. He must be pretty awesome."

Kurt punched him in the arm.

"He is. Well, when he's not being incredibly frustrating. You have no idea how horrible it is living with someone who doesn't understand why plaid and stripes can't be mixed…"

They walked together toward the field and Kurt waved his brother down as they got there, trying to ignore the glares of the jocks as he approached.

"Hey Kurt," Finn said giving him a goofy smile, "what's up? Did you decide to come try out for the team again?"

Kurt's eyes rolled skyward. Stupid brother.

"Again?" Blaine echoed in surprise.

"Lame story," Kurt said to him before turning to Finn. "I am giving you my keys. You are going to drive my car home so I can grab coffee with Blaine. We'll be home in time for dinner. Keep in mind that I will eviscerate you if you even so much as dent her."

Finn blinked at him uncomprehendingly for a moment before grinning again. This didn't instill much faith in Kurt.

"Awesome dude! I won't wreck her I promise. Oh, and this is that Blaine guy right? Dude, you should have said how tiny he was because those clothes are like ginormous on him. Sorry man. Slushies suck. But anyway… yeah. Keys. Car. You'll be home for dinner? You're not like going on a date right? Because if you are, does Burt know? And if Burt knows, how come you didn't tell me?"

Kurt sighed.

"Are you sure you're not related by blood?" Blaine asked with a smirk. "Because he's totally got the rambling thing going on too."

"Shut up, you," Kurt snarked back. "And no, Finn, we are not going on a date. I told you last night that I had reconnected with some old friends remember?"

Finn shook his head. "Sorry, Kurt. I probably wasn't listening…"

Okay… time to go.

"Hudson! Get your hiny on the field! This is football practice, not a family reunion!" Beiste's voice saved them all from further awkwardness.

"Right. See you guys later!" Finn called.

"Yeah, hey thanks for the clothes, man." Blaine called after him.

By the time they made it to The Lima Bean they had fallen into an easy silence that left Kurt feeling content. It was just nice being around Blaine again, even if he had developed these awkward and strange new feelings that hadn't been there before.

"Grande Non-Fat Mocha, please," he ordered, before looking at Blaine. "What would you like?"

"Oh no, Kurt, I'll get it…"

"Don't be silly," Kurt gave a long-suffered sigh. "It's the least I can do after your slushie facial."

"Kurt, we've been over this. That totally wasn't your fault," Blaine insisted.

Kurt waved him off, 'Just order something."

"Medium drip please."

Making their way to Kurt's favorite table in the corner, they sat down and fell silent again.

"So…"

"Sooo…"

"So what's new in the world of Blaine?" he asked with a small smile.

Blaine let out a breath and the tension faded away.

"Oh, Kurt, what isn't new? I have no idea where to start! I'm supposed to help bake cookie's this weekend."

Whereas Kurt had a problem with word-vomit, Blaine had a problem with randomosity.

"You? Bake? Do my ears deceive me? As far as I know those two words are incompatible. The last time you were in charge of baking something, which was pre-prepared refrigerated cookies by the way, you managed to set the oven on fire…"

"_Oh_ my god. One time, I caused a kitchen fire one time, and nobody ever lets me forget it," he said in exasperation.

Blaine was also a horrible _horrible_ cook. Kurt would never blatantly say that to his face, though. (okay, maybe he would.)

"Yeah, but you set fire to the Chiang's kitchen. I thought Mrs. Chiang was going to kill you. Legitimately. "

"Oh please, they love me, everyone loves me."

"You've seriously gotten a little more cocky over the years, eh Anderson?"

"You looove me," he teased.

That's probably true. He wondered how Blaine would feel if he presented his suddenly non-platonic hormone driven feelings.

"Maybe," he said, settling for a snarky reply veiled in truth. "So tell me, why are you baking cookies?"

"Wes' sister Ali is having a bake sale at school. Mrs. Chiang volunteered Wes and I to help because she has a community meeting on Saturday. I think she just doesn't want to listen to Ali's complaints about school or how the other girls are allowed to do more than she is."

He could remember a time when the little black haired girl had taken to following them around everywhere they went. They had tried multiple times to be rid of her (this only ended in a scolding from Mrs. Chiang and a lecture about the importance of family from Mr. Chiang) but she just kept coming back. Being boys of the tender age of 8 it was more than a little annoying. It was hard to believe that she was a teenager now.

"I still maintain that you shouldn't be allowed near any appliances," Kurt harped.

"Well maybe you should just come over and keep an eye on us," Blaine retorted.

"Ha. You're just trying to hoist off the baking on me because you know I'm better at it than you."

"Kurt, do they throw slushie at you a lot at McKinley?" Blaine asked suddenly, and Kurt had to do a mental 360 because his mind had not been prepared for that question.

"Do you want the short answer, or the long one?" he asked softly, his stomach churning at the idea of telling Blaine how often he'd had to clean red slush out of his hair and his clothes.

"I want the truth, because Kurt that really sucks. They shouldn't be allowed to do that. I'm absolutely appalled that no one has done anything before now."

"Sometimes it happens so often that we have to walk around in raincoats," he turned his attention to his coffee.

"We?" Blaine asked in surprise.

Tell him. Tell him. Tell him about glee club. Teeeeell him.

"My friends and I. Most of us are at the bottom of the social totem pole."

Sigh.

"That's just… wrong. Kurt, I am so sorry that you have to go through that. I wish there was something I could do," Blaine said softly, hazily eyes holding his firmly.

Kurt felt his heart bound into his throat and claw desperately at his vocal chords.

"You do," he croaked, and then quickly cleared his throat. "Just by being here. Just by being in my life again, you make a difference Blaine. It's always been that way. You and me and Wes against the world. I know that we've grown up a bit now and life isn't the fairytale we imagined it would be, but we're living, and we're still learning how to make it. Every day is just a little bit better because I know that you care. That if something were to… happen to me, someone other than my Dad would care."

"Hey," Blaine admonished gently, "don't say things like that. Nothing bad is going to happen to you on my watch."

He smiled blearily at Blaine, blinking rapidly, and took another sip of his coffee.

Kurt was more than a little relieved to find that the Navigator was parked in its regular spot in the driveway. Finn's driving definitely left a little bit to be desired. He opened his mouth to tell Blaine where to park, but Blaine pulled into the driveway behind Carole's tasteful Toyota Sedona and put it in park before he could get the words out.

"Kurt, I love this house. I mean, I'm only seeing the outside, but it definitely screams 'Hummel' to me."

He looked at Blaine and rolled his eyes.

"Of course it's great. I helped pick it out. Do you think I would have let them pick an un-tasteful house?"

Blaine gave him a mysterious smile. Kurt was sure he was thinking of the other Hummel house that he and his father had occupied for the first 16 years of his life. That was usually what he thought about when he looked at the new house. It was an intense achingly beautiful feeling, and he felt a plethora of emotions all at once: good, bad, happy, sad and content. It had been a small, charming one-story home with a basement. The outside was a light yellow (his mom's choice) with a garden of begonias and rosebushes working their way around the outside. Out back there was a white fence that blocked in a relatively small backyard, and in one corner you could find an old wooden picnic table worn with years and years of use and abuse and the initials of three boys carved into one side. In the other corner you could see the remnants of a vegetable garden that had long since been given up on. The inside has walls that were a tasteful beige color and the carpet was a soothing tan that gave the house a warm feeling to all those who entered.

They had spent many years coming and going from that house. They had learned many lessons: academic, self, and moral; just about anything you could learn was learned in that house, for Kurt, and for his friends. It was home. It was love. It was everything he'd ever needed. And now he'd never set foot inside it again.

But of course, this house was love too. It was a different kind of love, of course. It was a new love, and a new family, new memories, and new lessons. It would never feel exactly the same, he knew, but the one thing his father had strove very hard to teach him as they'd made this big step together was that it didn't need to be the same and that it was okay to feel weird about it. It had been a few months since they'd moved in together, as a family, and as the days passed so did the queasy feeling he had every time he set foot in the main hallway. He and Finn were getting along great and he loved Carole to death. And his dad was happy. That's what mattered to Kurt the most.

"Well, are you going to let me go inside, or were you planning on sitting in the car all night?" Blaine interrupted his musings.

Childishly he stuck out his tongue at his companion and hopped out of the car.

"Well come on then," he teased.

He led Blaine up the small pathway, encased on either side by a thriving and well-cared for garden, and through the front door.

"Hey I'm home," he called out into the open living room.

"In the kitchen, honey," Carole's voice called back.

He looked over and noticed that suddenly Blaine looked a bit nervous.

"She'll love you," he reassured.

He could see Finn sitting at the dining room table across the hall with his Spanish book open looking thoroughly confused while Carole was at the stove cooking dinner.

"Hello dear-oh," she cut off briefly, "who is your friend? And why is he wearing your brother's clothes?"

He opened his mouth, but as was starting to become the pattern, Blaine interrupted.

"I'm Blaine Anderson, ma'am. I'm a good friend of Kurt's from Westerville. And your son graciously offered me some spare clothes after an incident with a slushie at the school. I am extremely grateful."

She took the hand he proffered, looking a bit flattered at the manners he was displaying, and smiled broadly.

"Hello Blaine! It's so nice to meet you. You know sometimes Burt talks about you and your friend Wes and all of the shenanigans that you and Kurt used to get up to as kids," she gushed, before turning to thwap Kurt upside the head. "You should have told me you were bringing company. I would have cleaned up and made something better than spaghetti and-"

Kurt rolled his eyes. Like Blaine was so special.

"Oh no, Mrs. Hummel, it's okay. The place looks amazing! I mean did you ever see Burt and Kurt's house before you got married? Kurt was neat, his father was...well, not. And his cooking skills… they tell me not to go into the kitchen, but Burt is definitely no better. And I hear that you are a fabulous cook, so anything is great."

Carole giggled at the compliments and jibes at her husband and patted Blaine on the shoulder.

"Call me Carole," she insisted.

"See?" Kurt muttered. "She already loves you."

"I see how it is," boomed a gruff voice from the doorway. "You hated my cooking, and that's why you were over 4 days a week."

Blaine spun around excitedly and called, "Burt!"

There was no hesitation as Blaine stepped swiftly over to the other man, who immediately opened his arms to him. They clung to each other for a few seconds before pulling away and coughing awkwardly as if no touchy-feely moment had occurred.

"Long time, no see, kid," his father said with a small smile. "How you doing?"

Blaine was smiling from ear to ear and it warmed Kurt's heart a bit.

"Great, Burt! I'm just really awesome; even better since Kurt showed up at Dalton to see us. I've really missed you guys."

His dad allowed the boy another small smile and then clapped him on the shoulder.

"Well you know the rules, kid. Everyone helps with dinner. Find some plates and set that table. Kurt, tell your brother to put away his Spanish and get cleaned up, and then you can help Carole finish getting everything ready."

And just like that everyone was moving and helping get dinner ready and laughing and it felt so happy and normal that Kurt's heart was all warm and fuzzy. He had just really needed this. He wasn't sure what "this" exactly was- a reunion? A friendship of epic proportions? Someone who loved him and didn't judge him? Regardless- he was just happy. Dinner went smoothly with Blaine integrating into the family dynamics as though he'd always been there. After Blaine went home that night, Kurt hadn't been able to keep the smile off of his face.

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><p><strong>Also, to Scilla because you didn't have the option for me to respond to you directly: Thank you for the comments! This is definitely something I will be thinking on for the future. I definitely appreciate constructive thoughts. :)<strong>

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><p><strong>Up Next: More coffee, and some good advice.<strong>


	8. The Substitute

**AN: A short update for now, but probably more later because I'm done with classes for the week in about an hour! weee! :) Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the support and lovely comments! :) I appreciate reviews and they make my day!**

**Disclaimer: As usual, I do not own Glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch. 8: The Substitute<strong>

The next day at school, Kurt's momentary moment of happiness was ripped away from him once again by the school jocks. His morning had started out with yet _another_ slushie to the face, he had been shoved into the locker hard enough for him to drop all of the copies he'd made for Mrs. Copeland during his teacher-aide hour (all 400- 100 copies of four different worksheets…all mixed in together now), Coach Sylvester had demanded that he rejoin the cheerios, and he had just returned to find his locker defaced.

He tucked his head against his chest and swallowed thickly. This day just kept getting better and better. He wanted to scream.

"Hello, my fashion savy diva," a smooth and sultry voice gained his attention as a figure leaned up agains the locker next to his, arm bracing herself on the wall.

He blinked.

"Ms. Holliday?" he asked, perplexed.

"That's my name," she joked, "don't wear it out."

He looked around to see if there was any particular reason she would have been speaking to him at this exact moment. He wasn't doing anything wrong…so it must just be one of her strange quirks. It was kindof creepy, the way she was standing there looking at him for all the world like she thought he was her best friend.

"Umm…is there something I can help you with?"

She smiled at him, her posture relaxed and eyes earnest.

"As a matter of fact, Kurt," she slipped an arm around his shoulders and started walking with him toward the school exit, "I was hoping for some fashion advice. Next week I am planning to spice up Mr. Schuester's Spanish class by dressing as Evita- brilliant right? However I can't seem to figure out just the right outfit…"

"Oh," he said, allowing a small smile to appear on his lips, "well, any classic social gown would…"

"I was thinking we could discuss this over a coffee," she interrupted, smile still on her face.

It didn't pass Kurt's notice that they had made it through the parking lot and to his Navigator without incident and he knew she must have overheard Brandon and Azimio talking about his afternoon dumpster-dive. That must be why she was being so nice to him. It wasn't that teachers weren't nice to him… they just didn't really _notice_ him. It didn't matter how many A's he got or brilliant explications of concepts they were discussing that he came up with…they were so focused on the drowning they were doing in the public school system that they had little time to focus on anything else.

He turned around and leaned slightly on the Navigator for support.

"Ms. Holliday, I appreciate what you just did for me, but you don't have to stick around and pretend that you-"

She placed a hand on his shoulder and interrupted him.

"Kurt, I really need help with the outfit."

He didn't really know how to reply to that.

"Erm…ok. Have you ever been to the Lima Bean?"

That was how 20 minutes and two Grande non-fat Mocha's later Kurt was sitting at his favorite table tucked in the back corner of the Lima Bean with Ms. Holliday. Or, rather Hollie as she insisted on being called when she was '"off duty."

"Okay," he said with a smile. "I was thinking for Eva Peron you could wear either a really classy gown with maybe a fur wrap or a business casual suit- and really to be fair I think a pencil skirt or a two piece tweed suite maybe. But please, no mauve. Mauve looks horrible on everyone, and Evita wore a lot of those in the movie, and in the musicals she's always doing it too."

Holly was smiling at him.

"You really know your fashion and musicals, huh?" she asked with a knowing smile.

Kurt shrugged, looking down at his coffee.

"I'm gay, you know? It's my thing."

"Rachel's into musicals and- well, not so much fashion, but you know…she really loves her broadway. She's not gay."

Kurt's left eye twitched, as it was prone to doing when he received well-meaning pep talks from people who didn't really know anything about his life.

"She's a girl."

"Hmm. Well, I love Monster trucks and flannel. Does that make me less of a girl?"

He cocked his head to the side, trying to imagine her in something flannel. He shuddered.

"Does this have a point?"

The knowing smile was back and he had to wonder just what it was that she knew that he didn't.

"Kurt, I'm not trying to be uncool here. I just want you to know that you are an amazing person. You've got a great voice, a good sense of humor, you are sooo incredibly smart and you would win a fashion contest hands down. Just because you're different from other boys doesn't make you any less of a boy, or any less awesome."

His eyebrows shot up. What?

"I have noticed," she said slowly, "that you are having some troubles at school. I know that I'm not a parent, and that it might be kind of weird to talk to a teacher, but if you ever _ever_ need to talk about it or have a problem and you aren't sure who you can come to, come to me."

He was struck silent. It didn't happen often, and Kurt was touched. Someone finally noticed and wasn't too afraid or ashamed or unbothered to care.

"I hate going to school," he whispered. "Every day I have to wake up early and spend time convincing myself that there's a reason to get out of bed."

She nodded at him as though she understood. But how could she?

"Have you thought about reporting it to Figgins?"

He shook his head dully.

"What would he do about it? What _has_ he done about it? He can't not know."

"Not really much a team-player is he?"

Shaking his head to show that he agreed, Kurt looked up at her finally.

"I don't expect you to do anything about it."

"If I were to stand by and watch as you deteriorated, what kind of person would I be? I'm on your side Kurt. While I'm in the halls of that school, I've got your back."

Kurt felt his eyes prickle.

"You're a great teacher."

Her eyes looked haunted for a moment and she corrected him, "I'm a great substitute."

"Well it doesn't make you any less awesome," he said with a soft smirk.

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><p><strong>Up next: More coffee for Kurt, and a little one-on-one time for Kurt and Wes.<strong>


	9. Honesty

**AN: Classes=done for the week! Here is another little snippet for the night. Enjoy a little Wes and Kurt fluff.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch 9. Honesty<strong>

It was two days after Ms. Holliday's pep talk, and he wasn't honestly feeling that much better about things. School was still miserable, and no one took notice of the bullies and he was just really tired. Physically. Mentally. It was deeply rooted within his bones and he just wanted to curl up in his bed and not leave. It helped having Blaine and Wes around more, but he just felt like he couldn't share this with them. What would they think? Would they think he was weak? Dumb little Kurt Hummel can't even defend himself from a couple of bullies. Can't even stand up for himself.

He tried to push these thoughts away as he pulled into the parking lot of the Lima Bean for the second time that week and went inside to meet Wes. He relaxed when he saw his friend's grin and felt the tension in his stomach slowly uncoil a bit.

"Because we've always had a policy of total honesty, I have to be honest here Kurt," Wes said with a tiny teasing smile as they sat at the booth in the far corner.

Kurt rolled his eyes but gave the other boy a fond look.

"What's up?"

"I mean, we were best friends for, how many year? 8 or so? I feel… kind of awkward around you, and I don't know how to fix it."

Kurt, who had been about to drain the dregs of his coffee slowly pulled away from the cup and set it back down on the table between them. That hurt.

"You feel… awkward around me? Why? Is it…because I'm gay?"

Wes reached over and smacked him.

"Don't be a moron, Kurt. I knew you were gay before anyone else did. Why would it suddenly bother me now?"

"It bothers pretty much every other guy I've met," he muttered darkly.

Wes narrowed his eyes.

"Well it doesn't bother _me._ Kurt you're awesome. We both know that. This is about the fact that I just… don't feel like I know what's going on with you or that I know anything about you anymore."

"Wes, I don't know what you want from me. We haven't really seen each other in like 2 years. Of course things are going to be different. People change."

"Not you," Wes said quietly. "You've always been an open book to me. I always knew what you were thinking, when you were upset, when you needed to talk about something so that you could figure out how you really felt about it. I just…knew. And you did too, in your own way. I don't know what I'm trying to say here. When I look at you now I don't know who I'm talking to. It's not Kurt Hummel the high school freshman who cried for an hour the day before our first day because you were nervous and you had to pick out an outfit and you weren't going to get to see us."

"I kind of feel like maybe that's not such a bad thing. The not crying anymore. People aren't quite as awesome as you and Blaine. Or really anyone who went to our school. "

Wes nodded slightly.

"So you conformed to fit in better?"

Now Kurt really was offended.

"I didn't conform, Wes. I don't know where you get off saying that. I mean look at _you._ Neatly pressed uniform, 4.0 GPA, plans to apply to Yale and become a doctor? Which one of us conformed?"

The other boys' lips pressed into a thin line.

"You don't understand the pressure that my parents put on me. I'm only trying to make them happy."

"Would you really want to spend your life making your parents happy? What about you? I know you'd rather a publicist or a journalist or just a plain writer."

"It's not as simple as all that."

"Neither is going to public school."

"What does that even mean Kurt?"

"Listen Wes, I told you… I get bullied. A lot. You'd think that by the age of 16 kids would find something else to waste their time on, but no, not so much. To be able to survive McKinley, you have to be able to remember who you are, and remember that deep down you love yourself. Even if other people don't. Even if they spend every day trying to make the person you see in the mirror ugly and unworthy of love. Even if they call you names or…"

Kurt's face crumbled and he threw his speech into an immediate halt. He didn't want to share the worst of the bullying with his friend. He didn't want this friendship, that meant somuch to him, to be tainted by the knowledge of his abuse.

Wes was looking at him with something that might have been pity. He didn't want pity, but it was usually provided to him in spades. So he was surprised when the pity transformed into anger.

"What do you mean you a lot? Kurt… I know what you said before, but have you really told anyone? Your Dad, the principal? A teacher?"

A soft smile threatened to escape his tight frown. There he was. Wes. His Wes. Ever the defender of his friends.

"It's not as simple as all that."

Wes narrowed his eyes, obviously not appreciating his attempt at humor.

"Tell someone Kurt. Do not be afraid of those jerks. Just like Blaine said, someone has to teach them. Teach them_ now,_ before it's to late for them to learn tolerance and acceptance."

Ah. There was that tricky teaching business again.

"Nobody cares Wes. The teachers are stuck in their own little worlds of just trying to get through the day and not get abused by the kids themselves. The principal cares more about money and staying up to Academic Standard than making sure the kids are happy and healthy. My Dad… cares. He does. But I can't burden him with this. He's been through so much this year."

"I care."

"I know you do," he whispered.

"Transfer. Transfer to Dalton."

"I…" he fumbled. "I can't."

But why not? If there was a spot open, he could just reapply for his scholarship. His grades were good, his circumstances merited it… but, oh right. His Dad.

"Because of your Dad?"

Always so intuitive.

"Yeah. I mean, he has Carole now, but… he had a heart attack this year, Wes. I can't be gone now."

"Kurt, you don't have to board at Dalton."

"The money..."

"Kurt…" Wes said with a sigh. "I'm not telling you that you have to do it. You just don't seem happy and I don't like to see you upset. Just... think about it."

"Thanks Wes," he murmured softly.

"Anytime Kurt. Just do me a favor, don't keep it all inside? If you need to talk, come to us. I remember what you're like when you bottle things up. Bitch-y."

Laughter bubbled out of him in a surprised gasp. "Wes!"

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><p><strong>Up Next: A little Kurtana coffee times. :)<strong>


	10. Maybe friends

**AN: I hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday! :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch 10. Maybe friends.<strong>

It was a Wednesday afternoon, and Kurt found himself surprisingly without plans. It was a bit strange, because before he'd reunited with Blaine and Wes, Kurt had spent most of his afternoons going home and helping his dad out in the shop, helping Carole make dinner or even hanging out with Mercedes and Rachel. Sometimes he even helped Finn with his Spanish. But ever since that fateful day, Kurt couldn't seem to get an afternoon to himself. He was either driving to Dalton to see the guys or they were driving here to meet him for coffee at the Lima Bean. Kurt was never without a coffee date these days.

He didn't feel like anything had changed. He was still just Kurt Hummel. He hadn't done anything to climb the social ladder and he was definitely still being harassed, but… he was starting to feel different. Little by little. It was as though his self-esteem was playing hot and cold most days, but today… he felt better. He felt like things were maybe looking up. He felt marginally more confident, and he felt more like Kurt. The Kurt he so desperately wanted and needed to be.

So it was sort of a nice feeling to have absolutely nothing to do, and to be able to just go home for a change. He figured he'd chat with Carole and see if she needed any help before going to relieve his Dad from the shop and finish up for the night. Maybe he'd text Blaine or Wes tonight to make plans for the next day.

It was as he was still pondering the possibilities for the next day that he felt an arm link its way through his. He turned his head and was surprised to find that it was Santana. The bright red of her cheerios uniform assaulted his senses for a moment and he had to blink a few times before he could think straight.

"If I didn't know you were as gay as a rainbow, Porcelein, I'd say you were staring at my tatas- which I don't know if I'd be completely opposed to. I wouldn't mind getting my mack on with you. Brits says you're pretty good at the whole kissing thing."

Kurt felt a bit blindsided. What the hell was going on here? How did this conversation take such a dangerously awkward turn so quickly? Was she insulting him on purpose? Was he supposed to be upset… was he upset?

"Yeah, maybe if you grew the right parts Santana. Look me up when you do."

He attempted to pull away and keep walking, but she held him in stride with her with a squeeze of her freakishly muscular arms.

"Kurt, wait."

He looked surprised. Santana never called him Kurt; not even when they had been on Cheerios together. He gave her a searching look, trying to find something there that reminded him why they really were friends.

"I was wondering if we could get coffee?"

She looked a little bit anxious, and almost unnoticeably humiliated at being nervous for asking to hang out with him. Santana didn't do nice that well.

To be fair, Kurt didn't always do nice that well himself.

"I just," she continued quickly. "I had fun the other day when we went as a group. I thought maybe you and I could go again. Maybe… um… maybe make it a thing?"

"A thing?" he repeated slowly, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Yeah, like maybe we could do it more than once."

Kurt was sure he was never going to need coffee again. Although he wasn't sure he really minded. He stared at her for a few seconds longer, and finally finding what he needed, he nodded.

"Okay."

Once they'd reached the Lima Bean they had jointly been annoyed to find that the line was rather long. He mustered up a sigh and a smile and dragged her into the line. It was definitely a bit awkward because he and Santana _never_ hung out together alone. Usually there were several others present and the two of them generally tolerated the other's presence. Now here he was, standing in line with Santana Lopez, and he couldn't decide if he was okay with this being a 'thing' or not.

She was definitely grumpy, and Kurt had to think that it couldn't be the having to wait in line for _coffee_ that was making her snippy. Regardless, it made conversation a bit less scintillating than he was used to, and a bit more mindless and fast paced.

"Like old times, eh?" he joked as they moved up the line together. "I've just been severely lacking in Santana-Kurt time."

She shot him a glare.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Come on, you know you've missed me at Cheerio practice."

"I see you everyday, ladylips."

"I think that nickname is a bit unoriginal."

"Yeah, well, if it fits though. If it makes you feel better I've got an even better one for Sam."

"Oh?"

She just smirked.

"Come on, you can't just leave me hanging! What's the name?"

"I'm saving it. For a special occasion."

"Santana!"

"Oh geez, put the eyes away. Trouty Mouth."

Kurt scowled. "Okay, listen. I think that's a bit far don't you? I actually really hate it when you call me ladylips, but Trouty Mouth is just plain hurtful, don't you think? I mean…. you're comparing me to a fish. I do not look like a fish! Fish are all slimy and live in water, and I _hate_ water, and my lips do not look like a fish's lips. Ha. Fish lips. That would be a funny one...um, but please don't call me fish lips either."

"God you're so dumb. That's the name I'm saving for Sam."

A pause.

"Ooooohhh."

"Yeah. Seriously, if this line doesn't start moving I'm going to go _all_ Lima Heights on someone."

"Calm down, we're almost at the front."

"You can say that because you've already been plied with coffee today. I wouldn't be surprised if you had coffee instead of blood. I haven't had mine though. And I needs my café mocha. Now."

"Oh hey look. We're at the front."

"I'm going first."

"Bitch."

_Thwack._

"Want to split a cookie with me?"

"No."

"You know you want one."

"It'll go strait to your hips, Porcelain. And we both know you couldn't stand the love handles getting any bigger."

"Oh my god, you are seriously a bitch. Brittany would split a cookie with me."

"I hate you."

Once they had gotten their coffee and were sitting down, the conversation had begun to die out. Now they were just sitting silently sipping at their coffee.

"So," he began awkwardly. "Did you invite me here to just sit here and stare out the window?"

She didn't answer for quite some time, and he worried all of a sudden that this was some sort of joke.

"I think I'm a lesbian," she said, just when he'd turned to stare out the window too.

Kurt blinked. What did one say to that?

"I kindof figured you were at least I," he replied with a careful shrug.

"I'm in love with Brit."

Holy crap. This was way above his normal threshold for sharing and caring when it came to Santana. Why in the world had she come to _him? _Most days he felt like he was struggling just to keep his head above water, and she thought he was the right person to come to? He supposed that he might be the only one who could really understand. It's this thought that makes him think he'll help her however he can. No one had helped him. The least he could do was be there for someone else.

He stayed quiet and silently urged her to continue.

"I don't know what to do."

He swallowed a bite of cookie and delicately tore off another chunk to pass to her. She took it with a grimace.

"Santana," he began, "what do you want to do? Are you asking my advice on whether you should come out not?'

She looked around cautiously as though making sure that no one was listening in.

Denial, then.

"I don't want people to treat me like they do you."

He bit his tongue. She didn't see to care that she had potentially offended him.

"I can't tell you what to do," he said finally, with a shrug. "If you want to be with Britney you'll probably have to come out. And you should. She doesn't deserve to be your dirty secret. She's special."

She eyed him calculatingly, but nodded.

"You're right."

"So, do you know what you want?"

"I can't. I just... not now. I think I should talk to Brittany about it first."

"Good idea."

Silence consumed them again. Kurt finished tipped back his head to finish off the remaining dregs of coffee, and then stood up, feeling that their moment was over.

"Kurt," she called out just as he turned his back.

He turned back to her.

"Thank you."

"See you next week," he replied, letting her know in his own way that he did feel for her.

"Same time, same place," she said softly as he walked away. He heard, and a full-fledged smile graced his features.

Maybe they _could_ be friends.

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><p><strong>Up Next: Kurt is tricked into having coffee with David- alone. Wes and Blaine are in so much trouble!<strong>


	11. Not friends at all

**AN: Sorry for the delay everyone! Thank you for the wonderful reviews and favorites and alerts! It's midterm week for me... so things are a bit hectic. But I managed to get this chapter ready to go! I apologize for any grammatical errors as I am running on less sleep than average.**

**Warning: There is a brief situation including homophobic characters and language appear in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own Glee**

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><p><strong>Ch 11. Not friends at all<strong>

Kurt had been a little bit nervous when Blaine asked him to have coffee with him, Wes _and_ David, but Kurt was nothing if not strong willed. He would not be scared away by David's fiercely overprotective nature. Wes and Blaine were in his life now, and if he had to tolerate David's attitude just to be around them, then he was willing to do it. So with a deep breath he'd gotten in his car after school and driven to the Lima Bean to meet his friends.

Except that when he got there, there were no signs of Blaine or Wes. Just David, standing stiffly with his arms crossed over his chest, eyeing the parking lot and looking for their friends.

"Well this is awkward," Kurt said with a sigh.

"No, really?"

"No need to be rude. I guess this means it's just you and me today," he said calmly.

"I'm going to kill them. They said they'd be here."

"I'm sorry you feel like you'd rather commit homicide than have coffee with me."

The taller boy turned to look at him, and surprisingly looked momentarily apologetic.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a jerk. Well- okay, I'm trying really hard _not_ to be a jerk. I just… don't particularly car for you or trust you."

"Ouch."

"It's true, though. You just stopped talking to them, and then one day you show up out of the blue expecting them to welcome you back with open arms."

"They 'abandoned' me too," he defended.

And really, why was he defending himself to David? He had no right to insinuate that this was all Kurt's fault. It wasn't even any of his business!

"You got so caught up in the joys of public school and the girls that you just forgot about them. They missed a lot. When I first came to Dalton, they talked about you all the time. It was like you walked on air and had a freaking halo. They were really depressed about losing your friendship. So yeah, I think they deserve better. And I think that you don't deserve to be accepted back into the fold just like that."

Kurt was momentarily taken aback. Depressed? Girls? Joys? _Joys of public school? _Had he ever actually been to Lima before this? Or a public school, for that matter?

"David, I think you might be a little biased about the situation. I mean, first of all- it _really_ isn't any of your business. Second, I'm gay. You know that right? So girls? Not such a big deal. And most importantly, 'joys of public school?' Have you ever seen a public school? I wouldn't particularly describe my life as joyful. Being the only gay kid at school was not on my list of things to be in high school."

David made a noncommittal "hmmm" sound and continued to scan the gray expanse of the parking lot.

"They're not coming. I'm pretty sure this was their attempt at making us get along. This totally has Blaine written all over it. Put two people together who dislike each other until they have to get along. I swear the boy either needs to teach kindergarten or be a kindergartner."

"Sneaky bastards."

Kurt sighed.

"So listen, David, how about we go inside? I'm a little bit old. I'll buy you a coffee."

"Can you even afford that?" David sneered.

Kurt did not appreciate the snobbery.

"Oh no, you did not just say that."

"I definitely did."

"Okay, fine, Peterson. We can go inside and _you_ can buy _me_ a coffee."

"I don't think so."

"Okay, seriously, stop being an ass and get inside. Christ."

Kurt grabbed his scarf and pulled David grudgingly through the doors and into line. Once again it was long. Great- he was cursed to forever wait in line with people he didn't like. It was like his own personal circle of Hell.

He tried to sneakily text Blaine on his phone, but it was obvious that David wasn't oblivious. He had his phone out as well.

**To: Blaine:**  
>-This is a set up, isn't it? Why! He hates me enough already!<p>

"So, where are you from?" he asked, trying to break the tension as he slid his phone back into his pocket.

David shot him an '_are you serious'_ look and Kurt plastered an innocent smile onto his lips. He really really didn't want Blaine and Wes to be pissed at him for not making the effort. _Be the better man, be the better man, be the better man._ He had to chant to himself to keep from trying to eviscerate the annoying boy next to him.

He was going to be on his best behavior, damn it.

"New York," David answered finally, without looking at him.

He felt himself brighten immediately.

"Really?" he gasped excitedly. "Is it amazing? It's amazing, I know. I love New York. Well- I've never actually been there. But I will, someday! My friend Rachel and I. We're getting the hell out of this stupid god-forsaken town as soon as the caps go up in the air. Literally. Like, the same day. We've got a very extensive plan going on. It includes broadway and NYU and living in a crappy apartment. But really, what is a crappy apartment compared to a miserable crappy life? And I'm totally going to meet Pattie LuPone. And Rachel will meet Barbra…"

"Oh god, just stop," David interrupted. "Is everything about you? You just asked _me_ where I was from."

Oh. Oops.

"Oh, oh no. You are so right. I'm sorry David, really. I just get a little over-excited when I hear the words 'New York' and I can't help but babble away. Can we start again?"

"Let's just order our damn coffee."

Kurt deflated. He was failing miserably at making David like him. Of course, should he really have expected differently? It was very rare for guys to like him, whether it be because he was gay, too effeminate, or too low on the social ladder to be given a second glance. Why would David be any different? His friends in Glee had never really cared for him or been nice to him before Mr. Schue had brought them all together. They had all liked to bully him, and while David wasn't calling him names or tossing him into dumpsters he certainly wasn't going out of his way to be nice. Maybe his perception of Dalton and all of its perfect, idealistic and accepting boys was a bit skewed. Yes, Dalton had a no bullying policy, but they weren't at Dalton now were they?

"Right," he agreed, eyes downcast.

They ordered and paid for their coffee separately. Kurt snagged a cookie, as his addiction was so strong that he literally felt he had no choice, and herded the smartly dressed private school boy toward his usual booth.

"So," he began, trying desperately to grasp at something that might draw the other boy in.

David didn't help him out any in the conversation department. Well, shit. What should he say? Before he could open his mouth again, however, a voice saved him from his floundering.

"Well hey there, fairy. Is this your boyfriend?"

He sighed inwardly. Why? If there really was a God, he would never have allowed his tormentors equal access to his coffee shop. Couldn't he have just one safe haven? It was Brandon Mortenson- another of Karofsky's buddies on the football team. Like leader, like follower.

David looked briefly startled, and flashes of agitation and confusion were cycling through his strong features.

"Brandon, did your mommy walk off and leave you on your own again? This is a place where adults come to drink coffee and have intellectual conversations. Chuckee Cheeze is just around the corner though…"

David gave him a sharp look, brows furrowed.

"Shut your damn mouth, fag," was the reply he received.

David was on his feet in an instant, up in Brandon's face.

"I don't think that it's any of your business what Kurt and I are doing here. You weren't invited to give your opinion on it, so why don't you turn around and walk away right now."

David wasn't any near as bulky as Brandon, but he was definitely well built. Kurt took a moment to admire the way the vein in his wrist stood out as he tensed and how his sculpted jaw clenched tight in annoyance.

Brandon looked a little dumbfounded. He imagined that the boy hadn't expected anyone to actually stand up to him and put up a fight. He looked around and then, with a final glare, turned and walked out of the shop.

David sat back down slowly.

"Some people," Kurt sighed, attempting to draw some humor from the situation.

"Yeah," David intoned. "Listen, I still don't like you. I just hate to see a jackass like him pick on someone who couldn't' defend themselves."

He blinked in surprised. O-kay.

"I'm going to go."

He wasn't given a chance to say anything as David grabbed his coffee and walked away from the table without another word.

He supposed it could have gone worse.

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><p><strong>Up next: According to Mercedes and Rachel, Kurt really just needs to man up and admit his feelings for the boy. Cue Warblers, misunderstandings and serenading in the Lima Bean.<strong>


	12. Love and friendship, and reality

**AN: Long time, no update! I'm sorry for the lack of update, family obligations crept up on me (and nobody has internet but meeee...). This one is a tad longer, so maybe that makes up for it. :) Any grammatical and spelling errors are my own.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch 12. Love and friendship, and reality.<strong>

Kurt found himself at the Lima Bean again the following Tuesday with Mercedes and Rachel. Rachel was going on about some musical that would be on this weekend at the playhouse, and would he come with her? He felt bad, but he wasn't really paying attention. He was trying to calculate the amount of study time he needed do to make up for all of the studying he didn't do for his test tomorrow.

"Kurt, earth to Kurt," Mercedes said, waving a hand in his face.

He looked up, finally drawing his thoughts away from the dreaded calc test.

"Er, sorry," he said, "what's up?"

"You're like a million miles away, Kurt. What's up with you?" she asked. "Are you thinking about your friend Blaine?"

"Your_ cute_ friend Blaine?" Rachel asked with a smirk.

Oh god. No, he hadn't been thinking of Blaine, but he was now. Curse those feelings.

"No," he growled, turning beat red, "I'm thinking about my test."

The two girls exchanged a look.

"It's sad that I can kind of believe that," Mercedes sighed. "But seriously, when are you going to go for it? You said you liked him, and that he was single. Goooo for it."

Kurt shook his head and sighed.

"I can't do that, guys. Blaine has been my best friend since we were like 5. He doesn't see me that way…"

"Well you never know until you try," Rachel pointed out.

"Til you try what?" a suave voice asked behind him.

Holy bananas on a pogo-stick. This just _had_ to be his luck. Why couldn't someone other than Blaine himself pop-up out of nowhere in the middle of a conversation? The boy in question smiled charmingly and slid into the booth with them.

He swallowed, feeling his face go from read to what he was sure was an unattractive purple.

"Oh noth-" he started.

"Kurt's trying to decide if it's worth it to tell the guy he likes that he likes him," Rachel interrupted, and Kurt rewarded her with a murderous look.

"I'm Rachel, by the way, and this is Mercedes."

He gave them a quick nod, "It's so nice to meet you. Kurt talks about you guys all the time.

He was going to find every animal sweater she ever owned and bleach them.

Blaine turned back to Kurt and leaned forward, face resting on his palm, eyes wide and curious.

"Oh! Kurt who is it? Well- it doesn't matter, the answer is yes of _course_ you should tell him. Whoever he is, he'll be getting one of the sweetest, most caring guys out there."

Kurt wondered what he would say if he told him the truth.

"Hmm," Kurt replied. "Why don't we settle on maybe? What are you doing here anyway? Lima's a long way from Dalton if you're not here to see me. Also- are those the Warblers I see over there?"

He caught Wes' eye and the boy nodded at him, but didn't come over. The other Warblers were giving them odd looks too. He knew most of them, and had seen them around the last few times he'd visited Dalton, so their behavior was a little excessively strange. Hmm.

Blaine smirked at him.

"Now who's cocky?" he teased. "And yes, yes it is. Actually…Kurt, I'm in a very similar situation as you. There's this guy I like, and I've decided that I'm going to tell him how I feel."

Having just taken a sip of his coffee, he chocked. Coughing wildly until Mercedes patted his back, he gave Blaine his full attention. Was he talking about Kurt? Did he feel the same way?

"Oh yeah?" he asked, eyebrow raised. "How are you going to do that?"

"Yeah," Mercedes asked with a grin. "Are we going to get to see you in action?"

"Oh yeah. Hence the Warblers. I'm going to serenade him!"

Kurt felt his heart stop. Oh. My. God. Blaine is going to sing his feelings to him. He could tell Mercedes and Rachel were thinking the same thing.

"Oh," he breathed. "Well, that's genius Blaine. Really, congratulations. He'd be an idiot to say no to you."

"Yeah, I'm pretty nervous actually," he confided.

What in the world was he playing at?

He looked over in the direction of the coffee bar, and a smile lit his eyes.

"Okay," he said, reaching over to clap Kurt on the shoulder. "It's showtime! Wish me luck!"

"Umm…good luck?" he replied, confused.

He watched Blaine stand up and walk to the Warblers.

"Oh my god," he hissed at the girls. "Is he? Is he? He's going to…sing…"

They were no help to him as they were squealing and grabbing his hands and shaking them excitedly.

"Oh yay! Oh Kurt, this is amazing!" Rachel gasped.

The Warblers were spreading out through the coffee shop, and Kurt suddenly prayed that whatever Blaine was going to do wouldn't get them kicked out.

"I wonder what he'll sing?" Rachel asked curiously surveying the group as Blaine said a few words to them.

"The more important question is, are any of them _foine _boys single?"

Kurt opened his mouth to respond, before stopping. The guys were _harmonizing._

_(Bum Bum Bum Bum_

_Bum Bum Bum Bum)_

Kurt looked for Blaine, hoping to catch his eye as he started singing. And his heart stopped. Blaine was standing in front of the order counter staring at the barista with blonde curly hair that was just too ridiculously fluffy.

_Ohhhhhh..._

_(Ba dum a dum)_

_Baby girl, where ya at?_

_Got no strings, got men attatched_

"Omigod, he's singing this song?" Rachel squeaked. "That's highly inappropriate!"

"More importantly, who the hell is he singing to?" Mercedes asked brows furrowed.

Kurt's mood was slowly growing darker.

"The Barista," he growled. "I should have known."

"He is so not even attractive," Mercedes whispered.

"And a little bit older, yeah?"

"Oh just shoot me now," he moaned, burying his head in his arms on the table.

He ignored Mercedes' hand on his shoulder.

_Because you walk pretty_

_Because you talk pretty_

_'Cause you make me sick_

_And I'm not leaving_

_'Til you're leaving_

_Oh I swear there's something when she's pumping_

_Asking for a raise_

_Well does she want me to carry her home now?_

_Does she want me to buy her things?_

_On my house, on my job_

_On my loot, shoes, shirt, my crew, my mind_

_My father's last name_

_When I get you alone_

_When I get you you'll know babe_

_When I get you alone_

_When I get you alone_

_Oh, come on_

_Yeah, yeah_

_(Ba dum a dum)_

_Baby girl, you the shhh_

_That makes you my equivalent_

Kurt's mouth dropped open as he looked up to see Blaine jump up on one of the tables.

"Oh god," he moaned. "This is both horrifying and embarrassing."

"I wish I had a video camera," Mercedes commented. "This fool is trippin."

"I… can't… look away," Rachel said, eyes wide as Blaine hopped off the table and skipped after the barista.

(

_'Cause you walk city_

_'Cause you talk city_

_'Cause you make me sick_

_And I'm not leaving_

_'Til you're leaving_

"I can't watch. Make it stop."

His eyes were perpetually at the point of popping out of his head as Blaine followed after the boy, who was trying to get away from him and looking more than a little distressed.

_So I pray there's something_

_She ain't bluffing_

_Rubbing up on me_

_Well does she want me to make a vow? Check it_

_Well does she want me to make it now?_

_On my house, on my job_

_On my loot, shoes, my voice_

_My crew, my mind_

_My father's last name_

_When I get you alone_

_When I get you you'll know, babe_

_When I get you alone_

_When I get you alone_

_(Ba dum a dum_

_Ba dum a dum_

_Ba dum a dum_

_dum dum dum_

_dum dum dum_

_yeah...)_

Just…. Arfafdhsjkads. He was pretty close to banging his head on the table to make the scene before him disappear.

_Ohhhhh..._

_When I get you alone_

_(Ba dum a dum)_

Blaine slid up to the counter on his knees like he was sliding into home and Kurt forgot to breathe. He was just so beautiful. And damn-it why the fuck did he have to sing to that guy?

"I.. just wow," Rachel murmured. "He does have an amazing range…"

Kurt and Mercedes exchanged a look before wadding up their napkins and throwing them at her.

"Hey," she cried. "I was just making a constructive comment."

He gave her a blank look.

"Oh.. umm… but what an asshole… seriously."

"I don't know if we can ever come here again."

He sighed and looked over to where Blaine was now talking to the guy. The guy looked upset and was gesturing outside. Leaving the Warblers to stand around awkwardly, they went outside.

"I'll be right back," he said to the girls, before walking over to talk to Wes.

They had pulled some tables together and Wes was sitting in the middle, surround by Warblers. He recognized a few of them- there was of course David, who scowled at him as he approached; there was Jeff, Chad and Nick, all of who had gone to their elementary school; and several others who he was sure he had met over his years in Westerville. They all smiled at him as he came to stand next to the table.

"Hey guys," he said, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

"Hey Kurt!" Wes said cheerily, reaching back to pull up a chair so Kurt could sit amongst them.

Kurt sat down hesitantly.

"As always, you guys were fantastic," he commented. "But I have to ask… _who_ was Blaine singing to?"

Wes gave him a look. One that said: _I know. _What it was exactly that he knew, Kurt wasn't sure.

David scowled at him, and Kurt wasn't sure if this was because he was legitimately scowling at _him_ or at his question.

The other Warblers all grimaced.

"That's Jeremiah," Nick said with a role of his eyes. "Blaine just decided a few days ago that he was in love with him and that we should help him make a 'grand gesture' to help him ask the guy out."

"I told him it was a bad idea," David said with a sigh.

"Jeremiah didn't look very happy," Wes added.

"He's going to be moping for days," another Warbler chimed in, and they all looked outside in time to see Blaine's bright eyed expression fall.

"Hmmph," was all he could say.

"Dude, when he said he was in love I totally thought he meant Kurt," Chad said, and Kurt's head whipped around so fast that his neck cracked.

"Erugh?" he croaked, unable to form words.

"That was attractive," Wes whispered.

"Yeah seriously, ever since you came to see him and Wes, it's been 'Kurt this and Kurt that' and 'I'm going to meet Kurt for coffee' or 'One time when we were little Kurt did this…'" Jeff said.

He swallowed, but did not dare voice his own thoughts.

Wes was watching him like a hawk.

"Yep," he said, "who knows what goes on in that head of his… You know what? I think I'm going to go outside and see if he's okay, this looks like it's going south pretty quickly."

They all turned to look outside again.

"Hey Kurt wait, before you go," Chad called, "Can I get the number for one of those girls."

He sighed deeply.

"Go ask for their number yourself, Chad."

He turned and made his way to the door. As he opened the door he could hear Jeremiah talking.

"Listen, we had coffee once Blaine, but I'm not interested. No one here knows I'm gay, and I wanted to keep it that way."

"I think they probably did," Kurt muttered, drawing their attention. He shrugged. "Sorry…it's the hair."

Jeremiah clenched his jaw.

"Listen, just stay away from me okay?"

Oh, yikes that was harsh. Blaine looked like someone had stomped on his face. They watched him walk away, and Kurt wasn't sure what to say to his friend. Finally, he tentatively reached out to place a hand on his shoulder.

"I…I'm sorry, Blaine," he whispered.

Blaine tensed under his touch.

"I am such an idiot," he whispered back, eyes trained on the ground.

Kurt's heart hurt for this stupid adorable boy. He guided them to a bench that was on the side of the store.

"You're not. Everyone does stupid things when they're in love."

"I guess I'm not sure what love really is. That's quite apparent now, huh?"

He thought he probably loved Blaine.

"Listen, I know this sucks. I have been there, but the best way to get through it is not to be self-deprecating."

"Then how do I make this feeling go away?"

Kurt considered this for a moment.

"What feeling is it?"

Blaine looked at him in confusion.

"Blaine," Kurt said seriously, "are you feeling heart-broken? Or are you feeling embarrassed? I kind of imagine it's the latter."

Blaine's wounded look made Kurt feel a little harsh. Blaine probably wanted Kurt to tell him that there were better guys out there (there were- and their names rhymed with lurt) and that the asshole wasn't good enough for him (he wasn't), but Kurt's experience with this type of situation led to the understanding that when you thought you were _in love_ with a guy that you barely knew or interacted with, you probably weren't actually in love with him, but the idea of him. His embarrassment over his crush on Finn was a painful reminder of what happens when you lose sight of reality.

"I… I don't know, both maybe?" Blaine said finally, not looking at Kurt.

"Okay," he nodded. "Then for the heartbreak, you have to give it time. For the embarrassment, well that one never really goes away, but you just have to treat it as a life-lesson."

"It gets better?"

Kurt thought he sounded a bit pathetic, but he cared too much to comment on this fact.

"It gets better," he confirmed.

Neither was really looking at each other, but Kurt could practically feel the wallowing emotions rolling off of his friend. Swallowing quickly, he reached out a hand to grab Blaine's.

"It gets better," he repeated. "And until then you just have rely on your friends to help you get through it."

Blaine clutched the proffered hand and squeezed, before laying his head on Kurt's shoulder.

"You're a great friend Kurt," he whispered.

There was that word again: friend.

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><p><strong>Up next: Kurt should probably know better than to say no to one Sue Sylvester.<strong>


	13. Avoidance

**AN: First, thank you for all of the wonderful feedback this far! I appreciate it! Hope you all are having a wonderful week. :) Second, wow! I apologize if anyone was notified of the last update like five bajillion times. I had to make one edit, but then ff doubled the notifications for some reason. Anyway, hopefully that doesn't happen again!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch 13. Avoidance<strong>

Kurt spent the next week moping and finding ways to avoid seeing Blaine. He wasn't so cruel as to not take his calls or texts, but he just couldn't see him. Not yet. As much as Blaine had been crushed by Jeremiah's rejection, Kurt was crushed by Blaine's lack of (romantic) interest in him. It didn't matter that he'd never expressed to Blaine how he felt, he just expected Blaine to know. Which of course, as Mercedes tried to remind him, was irrational. But whatever.

So because he was avoiding Blaine (and by default Wes), he avoided the Lima Bean and tried to stick to just drinking coffee from the maker at home. He was so distracted that his homework grades were slipping a bit, and he wasn't quite sure how to get this under control. He was careful not to attract the attention of his family with these changes in his behavior, but they still noticed. And asked where Blaine was, and why they hadn't seen him around more. He made up something about him being busy with the school stuff.

"Kurt, you have to stop with this moping," Rachel declared on day three, accosting him at his locker. "It'll ruin your singing."

He blinked at her, and turned around to walk in the other direction.

"Seriously dude, who do I have to go beat up?" Puck asked when he learned that Kurt's behavior was due to boy troubles.

He ignored him.

"Hey porcelain," Santana called to him in the hall, "you look like a little girl whose favorite Ken doll married Barbie instead of you."

He ignored her too.

"You may not know this, but I'm pretty handy with a nail file," Quinn confided to him as they sat together in Lit class.

"It's true," Sam smirked, leaning back to hear their conversation better.

He tilted his head in confusion.

Quinn shrugged. "You know, in case you need to break into a locker or a car… or a dorm room… and like deface it or something."

He smiled, but remained silent.

The attempts to throw him from his melancholy came in all shapes and forms, from Britney bringing him a giant stuffed teddy bear to hug to Tina asking if she needed to teach him the trade of scaring people with vampirism. None of it worked. Even Karofsky seemed to notice his down-trodden spirits.

"Hey homo, did that school-girl outfit wearing fairy of yours break up with you?"

He followed this with a slam into the nearest locker. It hurt so much that he had to bite back a cry of pain. Kurt sat on the floor for several minutes and stared blankly at the passing students.

"Get up, Porcelain," a rough voice said from above him.

He looked up to see Coach Sylvester standing next to him, lips curled into a sneer.

"Why?" he asked quietly.

"Are you questioning me?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Up, now, and come with me to my office."

He considered ignoring her, but the look on her face told him that that might be an act akin to suicide. So he got up and followed her quietly back to her office.

"Sit," she said.

He did.

"Drink this," she said, shoving a cup of coffee into his hands. "You obviously have not been drinking enough coffee."

He did.

"Did I or did I not tell you to come to me with your problems?" she questioned dangerously.

He swallowed.

"Umm. You did, but this is more of a personal issue, Ms. Sylvester."

"Coach."

"I'm sorry?" he asked, tilting his head.

"It's coach to you. And it looked a bit like bullying when Karofsky shoved you into that locker a few minutes ago."

"Oh," he said. "Well yeah. That was bullying, but it's not really any worse than normal. I'm just… I'm just having boy troubles."

Well that was awkward to say out loud to a teacher.

"Your grades are slipping," she snapped out.

"What? How would you even know that?"

"I know everything," she reminded him. "Your grades are slipping and this is not acceptable. You got a B on your last physics assignment."

"B is average, and the fact that you know this is creeping me out a bit."

"You need to rejoin the cheerios. It'll keep you busy, get your mind off of that stupid hobbit, bring up your social status, and help you keep your grades up. Plus it'll help me win another national championship."

He was baffled. She wanted him back on the Cheerios?

"You know why I quit," he said with a shrug. "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in rejoining the cheerios. I'm sure you can find another almost equally talented person to help you win nationals."

"Porcelain, I don't want to, but I will destroy your reputation if I have to. You won't have a choice but to rejoin my cheerios."

"… I really don't have a reputation to speak of. So if you're thinking of trying to turn my friends against me or something, I don't think you'll get very far. You've never been successful in any of your schemes against glee club."

"That is categorically untrue. Porcelain, I'll make you head cheerio. Just come back to me and be my minion again."

He snorted. "No thanks, I'm not into stabbing my friends in the back."

"Last chance porcelain," she said, eyes dark.

He frowned. What was going on in that head of hers?

"No thanks," he repeated. "Was there anything else that you wanted to talk to me about?"

She growled at him.

"No. Get out of my office."

He stood, and stopped at the door.

"Thank you for noticing what I'm going through," he said, not looking at her. "I'm not sorry for not rejoining the cheerios, but you're still my favorite teacher in this rotten place."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, thank you porcelain. I'm touched. But I'm still going to destroy you. Now get out."

He did.

As he walked down the hall toward his next class, he vaguely regretted not getting a pass from her.

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><p><strong>Up Next: Kurt has an awkward run in at the Lima Bean, and a confrontation.<strong>


	14. The Divas Club

**AN: Okay, so this chapter snuck itself in and so the Warbler confrontation will be in the next chapter; which will potentially be up tonight or early tomorrow.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch 14: The Divas Club<strong>

In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, Kurt felt particularly overwhelmed. School was driving him insane. He had three papers due (one for French, one for Lit in Western Society, and one for AP history) and a big test at the end of the week. He was still suffering from the consequences of his failed Calc test. Coach Sylvester had been right when she said his grades were suffering. Perhaps it wasn't just the Blaine fiasco, but the day-to-day struggles with the jocks at school that had caused him to fail his Calc test last week. His dad kept looking at him like he were going to announce his dropping out of school any minute, and it made him feel so guilty. His dad shouldn't be worrying about him.

It had been _one_ bad test. Okay, so it had been a phenomenally bad test and he'd never in his life failed a test as badly as he'd failed this. In fact, Kurt was pretty sure he'd never failed a test before. Or gotten less than an A. It should have bothered him more. But he just couldn't muster up the strength to care. He _really_ wanted to care. It could mean the difference between getting admitted to a New York college and being forced to stay in Ohio. He couldn't focus. With Ms. Holliday having overstayed her welcome as substitute and Mr. Schue being oblivious as always, and none of his friends noticing that he was becoming more and more troubled, he had no one to really turn to. The fresh bruises he had on his back and arms were enough reminders that he was unpopular in this school, and that people might actually _hate _him. How was he supposed to deal with the hatred, the slurs and the abuse? And on top of that keep up with school, glee club and get prepared for the upcoming sectionals, and be expected to be perfect on top of it all. It stressed him out.

He had never felt worse than that moment he'd seen the disappointed look on his father's face when he an Carole had confronted Kurt about the test. Kurt had told them that it'd been an off week and he'd just been too busy to study very well. They both knew that this wasn't strictly true. They both knew that Kurt should have been able to do those problems in his sleep. The question they'd asked him over and over again was: why hadn't he? Kurt remained steadfast and refused to burden his father with his own problems. Burt had grounded him for two weeks. Two week of not being able to go out, see Blaine or Wes, or go to coffee with any of his friends. He had used this time to throw actually throw himself back into his studies. He needed the time anyway. He had managed to push his feelings for Blaine aside in an effort to be a good friend, but that didn't mean he had his head on straight after all. Blaine and the others had questioned his sudden disappearance off the face of the earth, and it had resulted in a panicked hour long phone call in which Kurt reassured the boy that he wasn't abandoning their friendship again and that he was just in trouble. This just added a whole other layer of guilt to his emotions.

Today was the first official repeal of his sentence, and Kurt wondered if things would sink back into the way they had been two weeks ago. Would he start having people to hang out with everyday again, or would they all have moved on without him? His question answered itself when after his last class of the day an arm reached out and snagged a hold of his shoulder.

"Eep," he squeaked, eyes darting around to his aggressor.

"Oh my God, what was that?" Mercedes giggled.

He visibly sagged, and then rolled his eyes fondly. He'd probably missed her the most in his two-week imprisonment. She was his best friend and was really very good at understanding him and being there when he needed her. When he let her of course.

He realized that she was still talking and that he hadn't heard a word.

"Kurt? Are you even listening to me?" she demanded. "Wha-"

He cut her off by throwing his arms around her and pulling her into a bear hug.

He could actually feel her confusion, but it didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight.

"Missed you too, boo."

Yeah, she got him. They were like psychically linked or something.

"Anyway," she said, gently extracting herself from his grip, "a few of us are going over to the Lima Bean for coffee. You coming? I thought we could use it as a chance to celebrate your freedom."

He smiled for the first time in what felt like ages, and really felt it as the warmth spread and tingled all the way down to his toes.

"Yeah, sounds great."

At the Lima Bean he was pleasantly surprised to see Rachel, Santana and Sam waiting for them. He had secretly named this grouping of people (including himself and Mercedes) the Divas Club because of how awful and dramatic they could be. Sam was actually really sweet and goofy and, as everyone knew, if he were gay Kurt would _so_ go for him. But alas, he wasn't. But he was still a pretty great guy. Kurt wouldn't necessarily classify him as a Diva either, but he had just sort of started hanging out with them when the group had unintentionally formed, not to mention they had discovered he could be pretty catty when he wanted to. So he was an honorary Diva.

"Kurt!" Rachel exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"You act like you haven't seen him in weeks man-hands," Santana said, looking bored.

Kurt rolled his eyes as Rachel glared daggers at her. The one thing about getting together as a group was that drama and arguments were mostly unavoidable.

"Now, now children. No fighting," he teased, taking a seat.

Santana flipped him off, and Kurt felt like he might never stop smiling.

"So," he said conversationally, sipping at his non-fat mocha, "how is everyone?"

"Well, we were just discussing the potential for a group number for glee club…"

"Let's get one thing straight Berry- I will never do a number with you. And secondly, it was you who was discussing a group number."

Rachel twitched and glared murderously.

Ahhh it was just like coming home.

"So Sam, I hear you and Quinn are no longer on the outs?" he asked with a smile in the boy's direction.

They had _all_ heard about the Beiste thing and the _cooling _off thing.

Sam blushed as the girls around them giggled.

"You tapped that yet, fish lips?"

So he hadn't missed Santana's introduction to Trouty Mouth. Awesome.

"Santana! I don't see how that is _any_ of your business."

"Whatever Rachel, spill Sam!" Mercedes said eagerly, leaning forward.

Rachel huffed again, but smiled when she noticed he was looking at her. He winked and took another sip of coffee.

"So what about you and that Blaine guy?" Sam's diversionary tactic made him sputter and look around with wide eyes.

They were all staring at him expectantly.

"What about him? You all know that he's not interested in me. I told you that. I think after the serenading-the-barista incident, this is pretty clear. He's just a guy I grew up with."

Mercedes gave him _that_ look.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said with a shrug.

"Please, Porcelain, we all know that you're fawning over that boy like a cat in heat." Santana commented, without looking at him.

There was another eruption of giggles and he sighed.

Sam gave him a sympathetic look. He ignored them. They wouldn't get anything more out of him.

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><p><strong>Up next: There actually will be an awkward Lima Bean situation and a Warbler confrontation in this one. :) Promise.<strong>


	15. Truth

**AN: Obviously by early this morning I meant late tonight... sorry about the wait! Thank you to everyone for the wonderful reviews/favorites/alerts! You're all wonderful. Have some awkward!Kurt and some angst. :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own glee.**

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><p>Ch 15: Truth<p>

On Saturday, two days after Kurt's impromptu meeting with the Divas, he found himself back at the Lima Bean picking up some coffee on his way to meet the guys at Dalton. They were going to hit the mall and then have a movie/gaming night with some of the other Dalton students. He had ordered his drink and was standing to the side waiting for it to be made.

"Hey, you're Kurt right?" a voice to his left asked.

He turned around and he had to actually work to keep the surprise off of his face. It was that stupid Jeremiah guy.

"Yeah, that's me," he said, a touch of bitterness creeping into his tone. "Didn't you get fired?"

Jeremiah looked annoyed, "Yeah, I did. I'm just here to pick up my last check."

Wonderful, maybe he could do so and leave Kurt alone.

"Listen, I was wondering if you'd sit down and talk with me for a few minutes.

Awkward. So so awkward.

"What?" he asked in confusion. "Listen… I don't think that's a good idea."

Jeremiah smiled and held up his hands in defense, "No, hey. I'm not like, asking you out or anything. I just wanted to talk to you about Blaine."

And that was how he found himself sitting across from Jeremiah in his favorite booth. It felt a bit like sacrilege to be sitting with the enemy in a place that he loved, but he pushed down his negative feelings as he sipped his coffee.

"Well… This is sort of beyond awkward for me," he said as he twiddled his thumbs around the edges of the cup. "I mean… I don't really know what I mean. I'm really bad with awkward situations. I'm sorry. It's just up until recently I haven't gotten coffee with anyone. And then my teacher asked me to coffee- _oh god_ but not in a weird way or anything- just… to talk to me about some things that were bothering me. Not that I'm bothered a lot. I mean, I sort of am- I failed a test the other day. But really, not crazy… you're not like going to kidnap me are you?"

There was a pause as the boy across from him stared with disbelief.

"You're insane."

"Your hair makes you look like a greasy blonde poodle…"

Kurt hadn't really meant to say that, but it was a knee jerk reaction. And this guy _had_ been a dick to Blaine. Blaine, who Kurt was very possibly in love with. So he figured he was well within his rights.

"Well I don't think that was necessary. What is with you and insulting my hair?"

"I… it's just an insult to nature. That's all. Seriously, give it a little trim and wash it a bit more often and you're golden."

Silence followed this.

"Is there something we were supposed to talk about, or did you just decide that we should drink our coffee together? Because really, as one of Blaine's friends I should probably be lecturing you or yelling or something…"

"But you're not. Why is that?"

He sighed.

"Listen, Jeremiah, I know what it's like to not be out. I could never in good conscience be upset with you for not wanting to deal with that. Ohio is like the worst place when it comes to being accepted for who you are. But… I do think you could've gone about rejecting him a different way. I mean, he's still pretty upset."

"_I'm_ still pretty upset about it. I got fired. I got outed to all of my coworkers and everyone that was there at the time. And not only that, but I got serenaded by a high-schooler."

"How old are you anyway?" he asked curiously.

"24, so you can see the main problem."

He could see that, but it mostly made him thankful for the fact that Jeremiah was not some creepy older guy who got off on getting with younger boys. Blaine didn't need that."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"That's not to say Blaine's not really nice. We had coffee a few times, and he was a really great guy. And it's not to say he's not attractive- because whoa – those eyes and the arms and just everything about his physical appearance is attractive."

Kurt scowled.

"You're attractive too."

Oookay. Entering awkward territory. Kurt coughed and looked away.

"Well, yes. That's an established fact. But, umm, I think we should just forget you said that."

"It was just an observation," Jeremiah said with a shrug. "But you're right, I'm sorry. That was completely inappropriate. You have feelings for Blaine, right?"

He blinked. Was there a flashing neon sign above his head?

"I…yes," he agreed carefully, not sure why he could tell a stranger but not Blaine. "I do. But he doesn't have feelings for me. So I am content to leave it as it is."

"You're all he talked about," Jeremiah said. "Those few times we hung out. It was all about you and the Warblers.

Well okay. That was confusing.

"Look," he continued. "Just because I rejected him and whatever doesn't mean that I don't think he deserves happiness. I don't even know why I'm discussing this with you. Maybe because I wish I could've said yes to him…but I don't know. It would never work out. What I'm trying to say is that maybe you should just take a chance and tell him how you feel."

A lot of people seemed to be saying that.

"I don't really know what to say…" he responded weakly.

Jeremiah shrugged and stood.

"Don't say anything. Just make sure you think about it. It was nice talking to you."

"Yeah…" he said dazedly, waving the boy off as he walked away.

Could he tell Blaine how he felt? And if he did, when did he tell him? And why was this so damn complicated?

He tried to imagine himself with someone else, and couldn't. And he knew he had to tell Blaine. So he would. He would tell him that afternoon when they met up. He glanced at his phone for the time and then stood up and made his way out. If he didn't hurry, he'd be late.

By the time Kurt had made it to Dalton he'd psyched himself up so much that his stomach was fluttering anxiously with every trembling step he took toward the front door. His current mantra was an echo of _Blaine Blaine Blaine, I can do it. I can do it. I can do it._ He clenched and unclenched his fists as he almost hurled himself up the steps.

He could see Wes, Blaine and David standing just inside the atrium, and he smiled nervously at them. As usual, David was glowering at him.

He ignored it.

"Are you guys ready to go?" he asked breathlessly as he stopped next to them. "I am actually pretty hungry, so I could totally go for lunch. I thought maybe I'd drive."

When no one answered he looked around at all of them again, and his heart dropped into his esophagus and fizzled. They were all looking at him. Wes looked a bit upset and Blaine looked troubled.

"Kurt, there's something I need to ask you."

He was a little surprised, but still smiled and cocked his head to the side as a gesture to 'ask away'.

"Are you in the McKinley Glee Club?" he asked, dark eyes locked onto Kurt.

Kurt felt his heart sink, and his mouth fall open. His eyes dropped to the ground and he was sure that the guilty look on his face was answer enough. He swallowed and looked up again.

"Yeah. I am. How did you find out?"

"That's the question you're asking?" David exploded. "How we found out? No apology? No explanation?"

His hearth thudded and he felt sick. The other two looked angry as well.

"Kurt," Blaine began quietly. "Why didn't you just tell us you were in the glee club when you came to see us that first time?"

"To spy on us," Wes clarified.

He remained quiet for a moment, unsure of how to respond. He _had_ told them most of the truth. He had just left out they spying part. How could he make them understand that he had just needed to get the hell away from McKinley for a few hours? To go somewhere, anywhere, and do something. Somewhere where he could pretend he was important and wouldn't be tossed into a dumpster or called names everyday? He'd told them about the bullying. They knew, but were they questioning it now? Were they thinking it was all a lie that he made up to get the inside scoop? Blaine had experienced the slushie first hand….but… he just didn't know anymore. All he knew was that he had to fix this, and fast.

"Did you come to spy on the Warblers? Or did you really come to see us?" Wes demanded of him, fists curled into his sides. "I want to hear it from you. Not some psycho blonde lady in a red jumpsuit."

He gasped. That bitch! He should have been more wary when Coach Sylvester had threatened to crush him unless he rejoined the Cheerios.

He looked up finally, eyes sweeping over each of them, before landing on Wes'.

"I did come to spy on the Warblers," he said firmly. "It's a thing at McKinley, okay? Spying on the competition. But I didn't _know_ you were on the Warblers. If I had, I would never have come… I was having a bad day… We-"

"I can't believe you're trying to make excuses," Wes sneered. "Kurt! You were my- our- best fucking friend for almost ten years. And then you disappear off the face of the Earth and show back up two years later, and we've been working really hard to make things right again. I wanted you back in our lives, and now come to find out that you weren't actually taking the first step and coming out here to see us? You had so many opportunities to just tell us, and we had to find out from someone else. And now _our_ Glee Club is on the line, because we don't know what you told your friends and what else you've taken from us."

The look in his eyes spoke volumes about how he was feeling about Kurt right now. He gave a jerk of his chin and closed his eyes.

"I didn't tell them anything important!" he snapped out.

"But you did tell them something," Blaine stated softly.

"This isn't a big deal, okay?" he said, looking around at them with wide eyes. "I didn't realize that stupid Glee Club stuff was more important than our friendship!"

"It's not just about the Warblers!" Blaine exclaimed furiously. "This is about the fact that you've been _lying_ to us. Kurt, you're our friend. I expected more than a lie from you. How do I know that you haven't been hanging out with us in order to spy these past few months? If you could lie about why you came here, what else could you lie about?"

"Nothing excuses the lying," he said; voice trembling, "but it didn't start out that way. I know it doesn't make much of a difference now, but I came because I was feeling underappreciated. Yes- I came because they sent me to spy- but all I wanted was to see if the Warblers were as good as everyone said. I wanted to see if Dalton was as amazing of a safe haven as I always imagine, and I wanted to see if I could have been … happy all this time. I needed to know."

You don't seem that unhappy to me," Blaine said stiffly, "in fact, you seem pretty well off if you ask me. You're making good grades, singing in a glee club, successfully infiltrating other Glee Clubs and ruining their chances at Regionals. And for the record: the 'stupid Glee Club stuff'? You were taking something away from us. Dalton hasn't been to Regionals in three years. Right now, you're no better than those bullies at your school."

Kurt's eyes locked onto Blaine, wide and horror-filled. He could feel the prickliness in his nose that told him any minute he would start crying. He knew, _knew_, that he'd screwed up. But how could Blaine be so cruel? Blaine knew Kurt, inside and out, and sure, they hadn't been close for a while... but still.

"What?" he gasped backing away. "How can you even say that to me?"

He didn't wait for a response. He didn't stay and try to explain or make them see that he hadn't meant any harm. He ignored his mind telling him that Blaine was just upset, and as always he was letting his anger run away with him and he would probably be sorry later. He didn't spare a glance for Wes, or for David.

He just spun on his heel and hurried away, swiping at frustrated tears that were leaking out of their own accord. God, this year just really sucked.

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><p><strong>Up Next: Kurt, Wes, and Blaine aren't speaking- not for a lack of trying on Kurt's part. He finds support in all places, even some unexpected ones.<strong>


	16. Halfway there

**AN: I meant to have this up earlier this afternoon, but really a night owl is what I am. I hope you enjoy, and thank you for ALL of the wonderful feedback! You all are completely wonderful. :) Just to touch on a common theme I saw: there will definitely be apologies and things will get figured out on both sides in the near future. :) Here is a chapter that is a bit longer than the recent ones! A new chapter will come by Wednesday at the latest. Any grammar or spelling mistakes are my own. **

**Warning: There are bullying and homophobic situations in this chapter. **

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.

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><p><strong>Ch 16: Halfway there.<strong>

Halfway back to Lima, Kurt's day went from bad to worse. He knew it almost a full minute before it happened, too many years of working with cars and with his dad left him capable of having what some might call foresight. His tire blew and he was stuck in the middle of freaking nowhere with a flat tire. To make things even better (worse) the sky was beginning to darken with the rolling clouds stretching forth to cover up the blue sky. He could hear thunder rolling in the distance like a beating drum and the tell-tale sign of the occasional droplet hitting his windshield signaled him that not even the weather was on his side today.

Ignoring the urge to just keep driving anyway and see if he could make it back (a really really bad idea), he pulled off to the side of the road and put the Navigator in park. He just sat there for a moment, in complete silence as the sound of his engine competed with the _tink tink tink_ of the coming rain against his windshield.

Taking a deep breath he tried to calm himself enough to think rationally, but moments later he lost the fight. Kurt screamed savagely and beat the steering wheel with his fists, and then chocked on a sob. There was no one here to listen to him cry, so he did. He just cried and cried for what seemed like an hour grateful that no one was here to give him scathing or sympathetic looks. When he finally managed to pull himself together he got out of the car to take a look at the flat. The rain was coming down enough now to almost immediately plaster his hair to his forehead and he couldn't bring himself to care. He also didn't care that the light jacket he was wearing was definitely not enough to keep him warm. The tire was well on its way to being completely flat and he could see the nail that had been the cause of his misfortune. He shared a few choice curse words with the open space around him and wiped agitatedly at the mix of rainwater and tears as he tried to think.

He didn't have a spare on him at the moment – he'd left it out after changing his tire the last time he'd had a flat – something his dad would kill him for later. Sinking down to the ground and not giving a damn about the dirt or grime that would soak into his jeans, he just sat there against his car, knees to his chest, head lying crookedly on his arms.

He didn't really know what to do. His mind immediately jumped to Blaine, but he couldn't call Blaine now. Maybe never again. How long did it take for someone to stop being mad over something like this?

And the angrier part of his mind begged the question: what right did Blaine have to say that to him? Absolutely none. He had _no_ clue what Kurt went through every day. Wes either. Wes should have said something to Blaine. They shouldn't have _cared_ so much about stupid glee.

Except he knew that if it had been him, he probably would have been mad too. Right? Rachel would have, for sure. Maybe it was that he would have been mad about the lying more than the glee thing. He bit his lip and wiped at his stinging eyes and pushed these thoughts away. He couldn't deal with this right now.

He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts while wearily dragging himself off the ground and back into the car. Hesitating only for a moment, he pressed send.

"Hey" he croaked. "I… can you come get me? I'm halfway between Lima and Westerville and I got a flat, and I am just really not okay right now."

By the time the headlights cut through the encompassing gray around him his windows had begun to fog with rain, and he was shivering madly. The rapping on his window startled him for a moment, before he saw the person on the other side of the door. Carole.

He opened the door and threw himself at his stepmother. She caught him around the waist and held him tightly, despite the difficulty this caused for holding the umbrella and saying nothing that they were both getting drenched regardless. Her hand rubbed soothingly up and down his spine as he sobbed miserably into her shoulder.

"Shhh," she hummed into his shoulder. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."

"Dad is going to be really pissed about the stupid tire," he whimpered.

"No, baby," she said gently. "Don't worry about your Dad. He's in Columbus today with Finn for the game. I had Jim from the shop follow me with the tow truck. He'll tow it back to the shop and fix the tire, good as new."

He sucked in a breath and felt his heart thrum vaguely with life from the bottomless pit he'd thought it'd fallen into.

"Let's go home before you catch a cold," she said, unwrapping him from her warm embrace. He nodded numbly and followed her to the car.

All the way home she said nothing, only running the heat on high and turning on an oldies station that was playing jazzy big band songs that lulled him into a half shivering/half dozing state.

When they did make it home, Carole pulled him into the house and told him immediately to go get changed and get into bed. He did so with little thought and shoved himself under the covers with no intention of ever coming out again.

"I brought you some soup and one of my favorite movies," Carole said softly, sitting down on the edge of the bed and trying to pull the covers away from his face.

He peaked out and gave her a withering smile.

"Thanks," he croaked.

She nodded and set the soup on the side table, and motioned for him to sit up against the wall. She fluffed up the pillows and pushed him back and tucked the blankets around him again.

"Here," she said softly, handing the bowl. "Broccoli cheese- low sodium."

He swallowed thickly and took it from her.

"Thank you," he said again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, reaching out a hand to smooth down his mussed up hair.

He stared at the yellowish orange color of the cheese mixed in with the tree-like green pieces that stuck out.

"I messed up."

She climbed into the bed and sat beside him, close enough that their thighs were touching.

"How so?" she asked.

"Remember when I went to Dalton to see them a couple weeks ago?"

She nodded.

"I went because Puck was being a jerk and he told me to go spy on the Warblers. Well, I never told them that I was there to spy. I lied. And now they're pissed," he whispered.

Why did you lie?" Carole asked in a knowing voice.

"I just… I don't know. I just didn't want them to be mad that that was the reason I was there."

"Sounds like that's what happened anyway," she commented vaguely, "but is that the only reason you're upset?"

He looked over at her, and the tears began to well up again.

"I…Blaine said some really aw-awful stuff," he whispered. "and all Wes was worried about was how I'd ruined their glee club's chances at sectionals. It was awful, and… I know I should have told them the truth right away, but I just was afraid they wouldn't want to be friends again if they knew."

He left out the whole bullying issue and keeping Blaine's comments vague. He wasn't even close to being in a state rational enough to telling Carole about his daily troubles with bullying and his actual desire to go to Dalton.

"What if," he looked up at her, watery vision blurring her gentle features, "what if they hate me forever? What if they never talk to me again?" he questioned anxiously, feeling all of six years old.

Oh sweetheart," Carole murmured, reaching over to wrap an arm around him. "This is just a little spilt milk. If they're really your friends they'll get over it, and they'll apologize to you for what they did. That's how this is supposed to work."

He lay his head on her shoulder.

"Do you really think they'll get over it?"

"I hope so," she answered honestly.

"Me too," he said closing his eyes and focusing on the slow comforting rhythm of her heartbeat and trying to ground himself.

The week that followed was worse than the one following what they'd deemed club-wide as the _Jeeremiah Incident._ Kurt felt miserable and anxious all the time, and never in all the years he'd been at McKinley had he ever felt like such a failure. He didn't really participate in Glee club all that much, and that was the most concerning thing, according to Rachel. It didn't matter though. Glee club and solos didn't matter. It didn't matter at all, not when Blaine and Wes weren't speaking to him and thought he was a lying, spying cheater.

So he kept his head down and made his way through the days like he was an observer in his own life. Of course, as always, just like Rachel, the rest of his friends had opinions on the matter as well. And it warmed his heart and made him smile a fractured version of his normal smile, because _almost_ everyone threatened physical harm on the two boys whose names were not to be mentioned.

"Dude, tell me which room they're in and I'll make them wish they'd never even heard of you," Puck said, cracking his knuckles.

Kurt sighed and patted him on the shoulder.

"Please don't. The last time you tried to get revenge on the competition you ended up slashing the tires of all of the members of vocal adrenaline's cars. And plus you just got out of Juvie. Go to class."

Coach Sylvester had left his cheerleading uniform in his locker, as if he hadn't _known_ it was her. He tossed it onto the floor next to his locker and walked over it on his way to class.

Finn was trying very hard to be a supportive brother. He alternated between angry and comforting and it confused him, but damn it all if he wasn't giving it his best. It made Kurt cry, and for once that week they weren't tears of depression.

"I'll get the guys and we'll go down there and we'll like fucking bust their windows or something. Mercedes can help with that, right Mercedes?"

"Hell to the yes!"

"Guys, remember the last time you defaced the cars of an opposing glee club?" he reminded them in a manner much like he had with Puck the day before.

There were deflated sighs and further brainstorming.

"So… what you did was wrong, right? But what they did was wrong too. That doesn't mean it's the end of the world. You can go apologize or something, right? I mean, you shouldn't have to apologize first, but sometime you have to be the bigger man. Mr. Schue taught me that."

Kurt had tried. Really tried. He'd called, left messages. Nada. There'd been a total of four days radio silence s far and he was beginning to go crazy.

"Kurt?" a voice called to him on Thursday from across the hall.

He looked up and saw Mr. Schue waving at him to join him in his office.

He followed quietly and sat down.

"What's up Mr. Schue?"

"Kurt, I've noticed that you've been a little down lately," he started. "Is there something you need to talk about? Is it the bullying again?"

"No," he answered automatically, and then, "well, yes, but no at the same time. I don't know if that makes sense at all but…outside of the bullying I'm having some personal problems. That's all."

The teacher nodded at him as though he understood, and Kurt wondered if he was answering with the socially correct queues or if he really did empathize.

"Well is there anything I can do to help out, in either realm?" he said after a drawn out pause.

Kurt gave him a small, calculating smile.

"Mr. Schue I appreciate your concern. I really do. I just don't think this is something you can help me with."

"Try me."

Kurt bit his lip and then took a deep breath. Why not?

As it turned out, Mr. Schue had really come through for him in a very unexpected way. This week's assignment was: apology.

He was sure that after his recent behavior that everyone knew whom the assignment was for, but that didn't mean it wasn't a useful assignment for everyone. He was pleased to find his fellow Glee-clubbers embracing the assignment with a passion. He had, of course, only one obstacle; and that was what song would he sing? And if he could come up with the right song with the right meaning, could he sing it to his friends?

The hazy cloud of depression that seemed to form a raging storm cloud above his head was only slightly diminished by the time he made it home, and so he was so entirely focused on finding a song and a way to fix things that he walked straight into the house without realizing that there were three very familiar cars parked on the curb. Needless to say, he was shocked to walk into his kitchen to find all six of his glee girls lounging around baking cookies.

It was like entering the twighlight zone.

"Kurt!" Rachel said excitedly as he walked through the door. "Oh, good, there you are. We were beginning to think that you were never coming home."

"Or that you'd made a pit stop in the dumpsters," Santana added with a smirk.

"Santana that's not funny!" Tina said sharply from the where she was peering into the oven at the cookies.

He shot her a look and was glad that his father was not in the room.

"Who let you guys in? Don't you have your own families to smother?"

"Oh Finn did, but he's over at Puck's playing Call of Duty or something, and Burt gave us full permission to be here. He and Carole are at a Buckeye's game," Mercedes informed him.

Well, his friends knew more about the whereabouts of his family than he did. Wonderful.

"Now, Kurt, just because you are being such a Debbie Downer that I actually want to throw myself in front of a bus this week doesn't mean that we have to be," Santana sneered back at him in retaliation for his death glare.

"What Santana is trying to say," Tina quickly interrupted, "is that we think you need a girls night. And as it is Monday, and we have until Thursday to finish our assignments, we thought we'd help you out with yours if you still needed help. Also that we'd veg out and watch some movies."

"But no romantic comedies, we've already decided that it has to be a really freaky slasher flick," Quinn said with a grin as Kurt gave her a horrified look.

"Can I veto the slasher idea?"

"No way," Mercedes said with a triumphant grin. "Being scared out of your wits is a fantastic way to forget about your friend drama."

"Yes, now make me some dinner while I eat these cookies that man-hands made," Santana said.

Kurt and Rachel both shot her their best glares, but despite it all Kurt found himself smiling a smile that wasn't restrained by guilt.

"Alright, alright, but no painting my nails."

The girls grinned and began doing various forms of the happy dance as Kurt began to pull out ingredients for dinner.

It was as they were watching "Scream" and Kurt found that he wasn't at all interested in the movie because it was freaking him out a bit that he tried to make contact with his Dalton friends again.

**To: Blaine  
>-I'm sorry. Really really sorry. : **

**To: Wes**

**-Please give me a chance to make it up to you?**

There was no response, and he was again torn between being angry and being tired.

He spent the next half hour alternating between checking his phone, googling "apology songs" and hiding his face in Mercedes' shoulder whenever someone died. Brittany was curled up on his other side, head tucked into the crook of his shoulder, spooning his back. There was a blanket thrown over the three of them, and Santana sat on the floor in front of the couch so that she was close to Brittany should the need arise to comfort her. Tina, Quinn and Rachel sat on the opposite couch, equally snuggled, and munching on the remaining cookies from the earlier batch.

If he weren't so anxious Kurt would probably be having a truly fantastic time, but he did have to admit that he felt better. That was something, at least.

As the girls were getting changed into their PJs before the next movie he snagged Santana and Mercedes.

"Hey, I have an idea that I need your help with."

The next day at school there had still been no answer from Blaine or Wes and so he tried very hard to put it to the back of his mind and focus on his schoolwork and what he was calling Operation Forgiveness. Santana told him that it was a lame name, but he ignored her. There were still some kinks that he needed to work out, like how to get into Dalton and get the equipment set up, but he wasn't concerned just yet. He trusted Santana and her lock picking skills.

Throughout the day he also tried desperately to avoid Karofsky because the boy was trying very hard to catch him between every class and shove him into whatever hard surface happened to be nearby. It was an exhausting feat, because all he wanted to do was be left alone and allowed to enjoy high school for once. But luck was, as always, not in his favor. The older jock had cornered him with his band of idiots after school was out and everyone was leaving. The really unlucky part was that his locker was in one of the more deserted hallways and that Finn's or any of his other friends' were all in other hallways. He was alone; and anyone who was in the hallway took one look at their faces and took off in the other direction.

"Please just leave me alone," he said in a hoarse whisper.

"Aw, looks like he's going to cry," sneered one of the bullies.

"I didn't _do_ anything to you," he hissed back angrily. "Go away."

He should have been expecting the shove, but he wasn't. He stumbled back and smacked into the lockers, hard, before sprawling on the floor and dropping all of the papers and books he'd been holding.

"You walk around this school acting like you're normal and that people should actually like you," Bradley snapped.

He was trying to understand their words, but he was mostly feeling nauseous.

"No one wants you. No one wants to be around your… sickness. You should be normal," Karofsky said to him, looking **straight** at him and making him shiver from his spot on the ground.

"It's who I am," he said wearily. "I can't be someone I'm not."

He was furious, so furious. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He didn't want to take this laying down anymore? He wanted to take Blaine's advice and stand up for himself. But how could he do that when his tormenters were more than twice his size and often came in packs?

"Well who you are is an abomination and a sin," the boy said, and he moved to kick Kurt.

Kurt closed his eyes tightly and waited for the pain. Only it didn't come. Instead he heard a jerking sound and then a fist smacking flesh.

"What is your problem man?"

He knew that voice. David… but what was he doing at McKinley? He opened his eyes and stared dazedly out at the scene.

Bradley had obviously been on the receiving end of David's fist because he was rubbing his mouth and looking angry. David was standing between him and the bullies, looking tense and the tautness of his shoulder muscles told Kurt that he was angry too.

"Whose this Hummel? Your _boyfriend?"_ Karofsky jeered.

If Kurt weren't so tired he probably would find it funny that this was the second time someone had assumed David was his boyfriend. It was also ironic because as much as the boy claimed to dislike him, he sure defended Kurt a lot.

"What if I was?" David said, in a tone so disgusted that Kurt himself felt ashamed. "Is that what this is about? You're bullying Kurt because he's gay? You know, that is just so wrong, and disappointing. It's people like you that give Ohio a bad name."

Karofsky launched himself at David and Kurt let out a surprised cry of warning. He watched fearfully as the two grappled and shoved each other around the hallway.

"Hey!"

He had never been more relieved to hear Coach Bieste's voice.

She was roaring at the boys like a wild bear, and shoving them back away from David, who had to be held back by someone else. He wasn't sure when other people had joined them in the hallway.

"Kurt! Santana something's wrong with Kurt."

It was Brittany, and she sounded very worried. There was a string of Spanish cursing and more voices joined them. He blinked his eyes rapidly to try and bring them into focus. Sam was there, jaw set, but holding Santana back. Finn was there too, shouting furiously around Bieste at Karofsky and the other boys.

"Kurt," a voice from his left said, as hands shook him gently. "Kurt I need you to look at me."

He swiveled his gaze around and saw David staring at him worriedly.

"Are you okay? Did you hit your head?"

He had to take a moment to think about that one.

"No I didn't hit my head, but I don't feel very good. I think… I think I might throw up."

"Okay, come on, stand up. We're going to take you to the nurse."

"Is he okay?" Finn asked anxiously.

"Does he look okay?" David snapped back as he carefully pulled him up to his feet. "I'm taking him to the nurse. Finn can come along and show me the way, but everyone else needs to back off."

Finn came to his other side and drew him away from David by wrapping an arm around his waist and letting him lean heavily on him.

"Thanks Finn," he whispered.

"No problem champ," he said with a worried smile. "Let's go to the nurse and then I'll take you home."

"I don't think you driving the Navigator will make me feel better," he tried to tease, but the effect was lost slightly as he set his foot down again and a sharp pain shot its way through his nerves and made him whimper.

"Is it your foot?" David asked.

"Yeah," he rasped. "David…thank you."

"It was nothing," the other boy said shortly and Kurt tried not to frown. He felt Finn's hand tighten slightly as they rounded the corner to the nurse's office.

David was leaning up against the wall as the nurse checked him over, and he felt particularly self-conscious. He could hear Finn calling their Dad out in the hall and he winced to think of the shouting that would be coming.

The nurse checked him out as okay, barring a few nasty bruises and a twisted ankle.

David surprised him by questioning the nurse regarding his nausea and the dizziness, and the woman said that it was more than likely due to the trauma and stress he'd gone through and not a concussion, but to keep an eye on it. She'd left them alone as she went into the next room to get some ice for his ankle.

"David…" Kurt started.

"I already told you it was nothing," the boy said bitterly.

Kurt was starting to get annoyed. Like really annoyed. He couldn't understand why this guy who knew nothing about him was so angry with him. He hadn't _done_ anything to him. Well… aside from trying to spy on his glee club and making his best friends angry. But it didn't justify him being such a jerk all the time.

"Why are you even here?" he asked, trying to keep his voice even and not sounding like he was seconds away from angry tears.

David looked over at him and he saw something akin to remorse surface.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you- I'm just really pissed off with those guys. Does that happen a lot here, Kurt?"

As usual when he was asked that question, he flicked his eyes down to the ground.

"Too much."

"Pardon me, but where the fuck are your friends? Or the teachers?"

"This is public school. Things don't really work that way here. The teachers care, some of them anyway, but they can't be everywhere. And the ones who don't care make sure to look the other way or not be around. The principal could care less unless someone comes to him directly threatening consequences to the school. It's not right, and it's not okay, but it's the way it is."

"Well that's bullshit!"

"Yeah, it is."

There was a slight awkward silence.

"I came to tell you that I think Blaine and Wes were a little harsh. I know I haven't been very welcoming and that actually I've been a bit pretentious. Wes and Blaine actually sat me down and gave me a good talking to. Which is wholly ironic now considering I think that they themselves need a talking too."

Kurt gave him a surprised look as he trailed off.

"Listen, I get why they're upset. I do, but really? On the scale of important things in life, glee club doesn't even make the top ten. Friendships do. So, I think they were out of line. I think they owe you an apology just as much or maybe more than you do them. I just wanted to come and make sure you were okay. It's been a few days and they've cooled down, but they're pretty miserable and acting like giant babies. As we both know, they're incredibly slow sometimes and require a bit of a shove in the right direction."

Oh yes, Kurt knew this. He felt his heart start to lighten, and he smiled to himself because just maybe his plan might work.

"I'm one step ahead of you, but I could use a little help."

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><p><strong>Up Next: A little mash-up can go a long way. With David's help, Kurt makes a visit to Dalton and initiates the steps to getting past this whole situation.<strong>


	17. Breakfast Apologies

**AN: I apologize for the super late update! There were several causes of the delay that I will refrain from going into, but everything should be relatively normal now! You can expect another update by Sunday at the latest. It's a bit late here, so I apologize for any grammatical errors I didn't catch.**

**This chapter kind of snuck itself in here, so the next chapter will feature the mash up instead of this one. This chapter is a bit shorter than I intended, but the next chapter is ready to go minus some editing- so it might be up even sooner than I think.  
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**Thanks you for all the wonderful reviews, favorites and alerts! You all are wonderful! Again, I'm sorry for keeping everyone waiting.  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

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><p><strong>17. Breakfast apologies<strong>

The morning following Kurt's most recent run-in with the jocks happened to be a Saturday and Kurt was glad. It meant that he could sleep in and not have to deal with anyone all day long if he didn't want to. He was sorely tempted to just stay in bed, curled beneath the fluffy warmth of his comforter and pretending he lived in a giant ball of fuzz in which there were no bad guys, no friends with cruel words and no need to move a muscle. It would just be Kurt, and he would just exist and be happy and lazy and anything else he wanted. He would call it Kurt's Land of Blah.

Unfortunately his stomach had different plans and proclaimed that food would be more necessary than sleep. So maybe Kurt would just go grab a box of crackers or something and then just climb back into bed and not wake up until Sunday.

Sadly, it became apparent as soon as he made it down the stairs and began walking toward the kitchen that nothing was going to go to plan today.

It was the fire alarm that was the real indicator. He started to panic because no one was supposed to be in the house. Carole was at work, Finn was supposed to be out with Rachel, and his dad was at the shop. So who the _hell_ was in his house?

He spent a few moments torn about whether to call someone or to just run into the kitchen and put out whatever was causing the alarm.

As he got closer he could hear muffled voices.

"_Jesus B! How did you burn the biscuits? There's like no way that should even be possible…"_

"_Hey! I didn't do anything!"_

"What the actual fuck?" Kurt demanded from the doorway, eyebrows knit together, arms tucked self consciously into the folds of the over-sized McKinley Football t-shirt he'd stolen from Finn.

Blaine and Wes were standing in what he would later call the ruins of his kitchen. Blaine was next to the charred remains of a pan of biscuits and had a light dusting of flower covering the front of the checkered apron her was wearing.. It was in his hair and on his clothes and fingers- basically just everywhere. Wes has faired a little bit better because the flour was limited to a few handprint-like shapes on his jeans where he'd tried to rub them clean.

If he weren't so confused it would have been funny.

They were looking at him like naughty kids who'd had their hands caught in the cookie jar..

Okay, so it was actually pretty funny.

He laughed, and really he couldn't help it. They were just standing there looking like deer caught in the proverbial headlights and he had no idea what the hell they were doing here at all, and he thought they were mad at him and weren't they not speaking?

The laughter was almost hysterical as he had to lean against the door-frame to hold himself up. When he finally had it under control, all that remained were small bouts of nervous giggles, and he found that they were looking a bit dumbstruck.

An awkward silence reigned, and they just stared at each other. It almost felt like a staring contest to Kurt- like if he closed his eyes they might disappear. He didn't want that. He really really didn't. He was bone tired and he just wanted them to stop being angry and he wanted to stop being angry and hurt and upset with_ them_ because he just needed on thing in his life to be stable right now.

He finally had to blink and was nearly knocked over when he reopened them as he was practically tackled by Blaine.

"I'm sorry, Kurt. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry."

He couldn't see his face, but he was sure it was his least favorite. The one where Blaine looked like a wounded puppy who'd done something wrong and was just hoping you would _stay_ and not abandon him.

Blaine was hugging him tightly, arms fitted around his spine and squeezing tight. Kurt was so shocked that he couldn't force his body to relax, and remained rigid in his arms.

"Wha?" he tried to ask.

"I'm the worst person in the world. I am the scum of the earth, and I should have never said that to you no matter how angry I was."

Kurt swallowed thickly as he felt tears spring to his eyes.

They were here to apologize to him? It blew him away because he had not even considered that they might come to him first.

Blaine eventually pulled away and looked up at Kurt, eyes wide and serious, one lip tucked between his teeth nervously. He shot a look at Wes and saw the other boy leaning up against the counter, also intently watching Kurt.

"I…I think that's a bit extreme. But," he stuttered nervously. "I don't even- … why _did_ you say it? Do you really think that?"

_You're no better than those bullies at your school right now._

"No! Oh god, Kurt, of course not. I was just really mad, and I have a problem with lashing out, you know that."

No one said anything for a few seconds following Blaine's admission and he just didn't know what to say. What would have prompted them to come here today after almost five days of absolute silence? And what gave them the right to ruin Kurt's big apology scheme? He had worked hard on it, damn it.

"I don't really know what to say here, guys. I wish it was as simple as saying 'I'm sorry' and moving on to the next stepping-stone. You _did_ say it, and I did lie to you. We all did things that were hurtful to the others, and up until I saw you trying to burn down my kitchen, I was sure that it would be me apologizing and trying to make things work. I don't know what that says about us as friends, or me or how my life has changed- but… all of a sudden I just don't know how to feel."

Blaine's face looked like it was at war with itself- a tired hopefulness working to usurp the annoyance he surely felt at Kurt's dismissal of his heartfelt apology.

"David told us about yesterday," Wes said, speaking finally.

Kurt wasn't sure what to think about this eiher. He hadn't exactly sworn David to secrecy, but perhaps he should have.

"So… what? You felt sorry for me?"

"Stop being an idiot, Kurt," Blaine snapped, and then his shoulders sagged and he deflated again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that either. He told us what happened and we were terrified, because do you know what the first thing he said was? He just walks right in to our study session and says 'Kurt was in an accident today.' and he just sounded really upset. That was his leading line, and I didn't even stop to think why David would even know that or what it could entail. All I heard was that you were hurt and I was terrified."

Blaine swallowed, and his eyes were trained on Kurt, searching his face for some sort of understanding.

Kurt wanted to reach out to him.

"He clarified, and said you were okay, but it really freaked us out," Wes said, clearing his throat slightly. "I know that we've been grade-A dicks to you since we found out about your spying on us, and I'm sorry. It's one of those things that I just don't know how to explain. I like control, and I hate feeling like something is going wrong and the fact that it was someone I really trust to always have my back… it just hurt. I lashed out too. I'm sorry. When David said that to us, it was just like something clicked. The only thing that mattered was that you were okay, and nothing as stupid as glee club was more important than that."

Kurt felt tears prickling at his eyes, and he furiously tried to swipe them away.

"I'm sorry too. About the spying."

"I'm still not one hundred percent happy about it," Blaine said forlornly, looking down at his hands, "but Wes is right. It doesn't matter. I think we can just move past it, if you're okay with that. Maybe make an agreement not to let glee club come between us."

"I'm in," Wes said, looking over at Kurt with a hopeful smile.

Kurt's head felt a bit fuzzy, but he smiled finally.

"Yeah, okay. I'm okay with that too."

He wasn't sure if things were just supposed to go back to normal now, whatever normal was, or if they figured it out one step at a time, or even what the next step was. It was that awkward moment that always followed a fight, where everyone was just waiting for someone to set the mood.

It was Blaine who set their mood, of course it was. He reached back and jerked Wes forward by the sleeve of his button-up and grabbed Kurt with his other hand to drag them in until he was practically strangling them both in what Kurt assumed was a hug. He was holding them close like they were a pair of his favorite teddy bears and it was as though he were physically drawing comfort from them.

Kurt smiled and leaned into the warmth, for once knowingly feeding Blaine's hugging addiction.

"Blaine," Wes said after a minute with a long suffered sigh.

Blaine just shifted and just squeezed tighter, and Kurt might have enjoyed it had it not hurt.

Kurt tensed as Blaine unknowingly pressed into one of the bruised parts of his back.

"Ah," he gasped sharply, trying to hold it back and failing.

Blaine let go immediately eyes wide.

"A-are you okay? Oh god, did I hurt you?"

Kurt swallowed thickly and shook his head, "No, no- it's not you. I just… you know, am pretty sore from being uh shoved around yesterday."

"God, where did they hurt you? Let me see," Blaine demanded, reaching around to pat at Kurt's shoulder and find just where it hurt.

"Ouch!" Kurt squeaked. "Stop, stop –stop!"

"Well, come on, show us. Shirt off."

Kurt's eyes widened slightly and he shot a panicked look at Wes. Wes gave him an unimpressed look in return.

Nervously, Kurt tugged at the edges of the t-shirt and pulled it up over his head so that he stood before his friends with just his shorts on and a pair of calf high socks.

"Oh my_ god_," Blaine gasped, surging forward to take a closer look.

The fact that Blaine was expending so much energy on examining his naked chest made Kurt blush a little. It wasn't that they hadn't seen each other shirtless before, they spent many a summer at the swimming pool in order to stave off the heat, and yet- this was different. All of a sudden those strange feelings and urges that Kurt felt whenever Blaine was around these days came surging back to the surface, despite his previous anger.

He really wished he didn't feel this way. He had been hoping that maybe their fight and his hurt might make it easier, but instead it felt more intense. It was uncomfortable, and he didn't know what to do about it.

"Assholes!" Wes growled, interrupting his thoughts. "If I ever seen any of these jerks I'm going to-"

"Tear them down with your superior wit and intellect?"

"No," Wes said with a roll of his eyes. "Not all of us can be pacifists. I was going to say: beat the crap out of them."

Kurt was silent for a moment.

"You'd…beat someone up for me?" he asked softly.

He didn't know why, and thought it was probably inappropriate, but this thought warmed him. Despite their fight and the ensuing anger and awkwardness, his friends were willing to rise to his defense no matter what.

"Oh ye with the horrible memory," Blaine teased, nudging Kurt slightly with a shoulder.

This reminded Kurt once again that he was essentially half-naked, and he quickly struggled to pull on his shirt.

"Don't you remember when we beat up Greg Parker for tripping you in third grade?"

Kurt laughed, head back and eyes scrunched tightly closed. "Oh, I do remember that. My heroes!"

Blaine smiled back at him.

"Oh hey," Wes said catching their attention. "Kurt! We made you breakfast. We were going to bring it up to you in your room, but _someone_ woke up and ruined our plans."

Kurt figured they were pretty even, because the two Warblers had ruined his apology plans too.

"Yes," he agreed, "and as we have learned often over the years- Blaine shouldn't be allowed near the kitchen. Those biscuits are _black_."

"I only put them in for 14 minutes! It's what the package said," Blaine muttered indignantly. "Forget the biscuits. Look, even better!"

Blaine shoved a plate in his face and Kurt stared down at it with wide eyes.

"Really?" he asked in teasing surprise. "You made me a pancake with blueberries for a smile, banana slices for eyes, and a gum drop nose? And you made eggs and wrote 'Sorry' on them with Catchup? You really went all out."

"You_ love_ it," Wes said with a smirk.

Kurt couldn't hide the smile that almost felt etched into his skin. This was what he'd missed over the last years- and this was why they were meant to be friends. True friends, the ones that often end up being a persons closest friends, are the ones who are willing to look past arguments and faults because in the long run they matter less than just being with the person.

Kurt had lots of friends. He had dear, sweet, loyal Mercedes; bright and bubbly Britney; Finn, Sam, and Puck; loud and determined Rachel- but none of them compared to the strength and bond he maintained with these two boys. And even if his feelings were complicated, and even if things changed (if _he_ changed) he knew he could count on them to be there.

He decided then, as he watched them bicker over who came up with the idea for pancakes, that even they had already essentially resolved things, he would still carryout the apology plan he'd orchestrated with David and the girls. It was going to be good.


	18. One last Apology

**AN: Sorry about the delay, and thank you SO much for all of the wonderful comments. You're all so wonderful. Thank you for reading, and hopefully updates will get back to being more than once a week as finals come to an end.**

**Oh, and there is a song in this section. Bold **means Mercedes is singing, _Italics_ means Kurt, and regular means Santana. Hopefully it's not too confusing.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.**

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><p><strong>18. One more Apology<strong>

Kurt tapped his thumbs nervously on the steering wheel as he made his way down the interstate.

"Dude, are you sure you don't want one of us to drive?"

He flicked his eyes over to Puck who was sitting in the passenger seat looking vaguely nervous.

"Hush you," he said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not going_ that_ fast."

"You're going 90 in the 75 zone…" Sam said from the back. "The girls are like way behind us."

"We'll get there and back faster soooo whatever. I'm sure the only one in this car who speeds."

At the silence that ensued, he rolled his eyes again. Whatever. He just really wanted to get there and he was nervous and it wasn't as though he weren't an expert driver, so they just needed to get over it. His dad was the one who taught him to drive, and had given him that cop detector monitor for his car. If that didn't sanction speeding, then what did?

Finn was looking a little green in the back, wedged in between Mike and Sam.

"If you get a ticket, I'm _so_ telling Mom and Dad."

"Whatever," Kurt growled back. "If you tell Dad, I'll tell them about the porn you've been illegally downloading onto your laptop."

"Ha! Like I'm the only one of us who has downloaded porn," Finn said with a snort.

Kurt blinked and tried not to blush or look over at Puck who was eyeing him up and down.

"This is true," he conceded finally, "but who are they more likely to believe. You, or me?"

Finn paused for a minute. "Ah crap. You're right."

Kurt stuck out his tongue at this brother in the rear view mirror. Finn scowled back.

"TMI, Dudes," Mike said without looking up from his copy of _Time Magazine_.

"I just think it's interetsint that innocent little Hummel here is all boy like the rest of us."

"Shut the fuck up, Puckerman," Kurt said, taking the upcoming curve with an intentionally harsh swerve that had all the boys smashing into the person or object to their right.

"How would you know that Puck?" Sam asked with a teasing smirk once he'd recovered from his impact with the door.

"Ew, dude, have you been hitting on my brother?" Finn demanded.

"_Excuse_ me, are you saying that it's gross that Puck would hit on me?" he demanded, swerving again.

"Jesus Christ, Hummel, get a hold of yourself!" Puck yelped as his head connected with the window.

"No, I'm just saying that you're my _brother_and Puck is well… Puck. He should not be taking advantage of you..!"

"I can take care of myself, and if Puck was hitting on me, then I would handle it accordingly. Also- I'm really not that innocent or naïve, also, I'm a _boy, _Finn…do you need me to prove it to you? Because I could pull over and…"

"No!" all of the voices chorused from the back. Puck just shot him a sly look and Kurt reached over and smacked him upside the head.

"Pervert."

By the time they all made it Dalton, the girls and Artie were a good ten minutes behind them, David was already waiting for them in the parking lot by his car.

"Land!" Sam cried in mock relief as he stumbled out of the car.

Kurt whacked him, and went to wait for the girls so he could help the girls with Artie's wheelchair.

"Right on time," David said with a small smile as he moved to stand beside him. "How's the head?"

Kurt smiled at him in return, "Good. It's better. Listen, David- I just want to thank you for talking to them the other day-"

David patted him on the shoulder awkwardly.

"Don't mention it. It was necessary."

Kurt felt a wave of affection flood through him and he blinked rapidly.

"You're not as much of a jerk as I thought you were."

"Yeah, well, I guess you aren't either."

There was a brief awkward silence and Kurt breathed a sigh of relief when the girls chose that moment to arrive.

Kurt was starting to get a little nervous as his new friend (ally?) led them through the halls toward the Warblers' choir room. The nerves in his stomach were a massive bundle of butterflies, and he tried to suppress them. He was a good singer. They had already forgiven each other after Saturday. They'd spent the whole afternoon just sitting together and _really_ talking about things and how they could move forward and how they would be as honest as possible from this point forward.

There was nothing to be afraid of here.

Except, maybe of messing up…or what if they saw it as over the top? Or what if…

He could hear the sound of harmonies and Wes calling out for someone named Trent to stay in time with the tempo. David gave them a slight nod and patted Kurt on the shoulder before sliding back into the room.

"David, there you are! We were beginning to think we'd have to come looking for you. Did you fall in?" he heard Thad tease.

"Har har," David replied. "Sorry guys, I just had to make a quick pit stop. Now, before we begin again, there's something I need to share with you."

Here it was… oh god, Kurt was feeling _so _nervous.

"What is it, David?"

Blaine's voice. He sounded concerned.

"You'll see. I need everyone to take their seats."

There was the sound of shuffling and then the opening beats to their song. He looked around and momentarily panicked before meeting Santana's eyes, and nodding. She gave him a smirk, the closest thing to an encouraging smile he imagined she had, and pushed through the doors.

There was a startled murmur for a minute before she began to sing.

You took my hand

You showed me how

You promised me you'd be around

Uh huh

That's right

I took your words

And I believed

In everything

You said to me

Yeah huh

That's right

He watched the others file in behind her to provide the back-up vocals.

Kurt was till out in the hall, alone, waiting for his verse. He could hear Mercedes taking up cut in of _Without You_, and silently pushed his way through the doors.

**/Without you Oh, oh, oh! You! You! You! Without You! You! You! Without you **

**I am lost, I am vain, I will never be the same /**

He opened his mouth and finally began to sing.

_Remember when we were such fools_

**/Without you/**

_And so convinced and just too cool_

Oh no

No no

_I wish I could touch you again_

_I wish I could still call you friend_

_I'd give anything_

**/Without you/**

As he continued singing he managed to passively split focus and both perform his part and observe the sea of blue and red in front of him. At the head table he found Wes, and saw that his friend was staring at him, and only him, with wide-eyed concentration. Kurt figured he realized this for what it was. Kurt was apologizing on his own, even though they'd already been through it all, and he was giving them a chance to hear the competition the way he had. Yet the way Wes was looking at him made it seem as though he could care less about the others, and the only one who mattered was Kurt. He offered a tentative smile through his words, and it was returned.

The entire group took up the chorus.

When someone said count your blessings now

'fore they're long gone

I guess I just didn't know how

I was all wrong

They knew better

Still you said forever

And ever

Who knew?

Santana, Mercedes, and Kurt stood together facing the Warblers from the doorway, while the others traipsed through the room and around the couches singing to the boys who were looking at them with mixed expressions. The boys who knew Kurt had obviously been informed of his treachery and so they looked a mix between touched and annoyed, while the others appeared to be fascinated.

Kurt stepped forward as Santana took up the start of the next verse and moved to stand right in front of Blaine.

Yeah yeah

I'll keep you locked in my head

**(Can't erase, so I take Blame)**

Clear blue met bright hazel and he smiled at the boy, a feeling of warmth and love and home creeping into the far corners of his mind as he sang. Blaine's smile was so big that Kurt worried his face might get stuck like that. He reached out and placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder and tried to convey _sorry_ and _I love you_ through the touch, through his eyes, and through his voice.

Blaine grabbed his hand and squeezed, and if his eyes could say what he was thinking, Kurt imagined they were saying _It's okay_ and _I love you too._

_Until we meet again_

**(But I can't accept  
>that we're estranged)<strong>

_Until we_

_Until we meet again_

And I won't forget you my friend

**Without you**

What happened

**Without you**

Pulling away from Blaine he slid back over to Wes, stopping briefly to sing toward a few other old friends.

If someone said three years from now

You'd be long gone

I'd stand up and punch them out

Cause they're all wrong and

That last kiss

I'll cherish

Until we meet again

_And time makes_

_It harder_

_I wish I could remember_

_But I keep_

_Your memory_

_You visit me in my sleep_

My darling

As the music began to fade, he pulled back toward the front with the others and took his place between Mercedes and Santana.

**/Without you/**

_Who knew?_

My darling

My darling

**/Without you/**

_Who knew?_

My darling

_I miss you_

My darling

**/Without you/**

_Who knew?_

_Who knew?_

His voice trailed off and they ended with their heads down. After a moment he pulled his eyes upward and sought out those of his friends. There was a slight sound of applause, but before he could do more than catch their eyes, there was a blue blur moving towards him and then almost knocking him over.

He tried not to hiss in pain and blinked down to see that it was Blaine, arms wrapped around him. He stiffly wrapped his arms around the boy and buried his face in his shoulder.

He looked around for Wes and saw him a few feet from them, a smile on his lips. Kurt looked down into Blaine's eyes and saw a familiar twinkle. Together they opened their arms and Wes rolled his eyes before joining them.

"Dudes what do I need to do to get in on this action?"

"Shut up, Puck," Mercedes and Rachel hissed at the same time.

Kurt smiled and began to pull away, and found that Blaine was not letting go. Despite the blush that was creeping up his cheeks because he knew everyone was watching, he started giggling. It felt just like it used to.

This was starting to become a common occurrence, and he just couldn't bring himself to care.

"Alright, Blaine you can let go," Wes said shoving the other boy away gently with a smirk of his own.

They looked at each other for a moment before Wes turned back to the group.

"David, Thad, I think we've had enough excitement for the day; what do you say we end practice early?"

Some of the other boys whooped in excitement as David and Thad concurred. They began to file out, patting Kurt on the back and congratulating New Directions on their performance.

"How about we get some Coffee?" Blaine added. "And then we can take you home."

Oh, does that mean I can drive the Navigator home dude?" Finn asked sounded a little too relieved and excited.

"Hell no," Kurt said with a horrified expression. "Driving in Lima is one thing but I am definitely not confident enough in your driving skills for the Interstate. Mercedes, you're up lady."

"Yes!" she squealed sticking her tongue out in Finn's direction and catching the keys as he tossed them. "I love the Navigator. I love you boo, you are my favorite!"

"You only love me because of my car," Kurt pouted.

"You know that's not true. I love you for your fashion and shopping abilities too."

"And the facials," Britney added with a grin.

"Alright, alright. Get out of here you scoundrels. Tell Mr. Schue thanks for letting us out early if you see him. Thank you for helping me."

"Aww Ku-urt," Rachel said with a grin as she hopped forward to wrap her arms around him. "Happy Kurt is the Kurt we want. Although next time you plan a public performance I insist upon having a solo."

"Out Rachel!"

He watched his friends walk out of the room bickering over who got to ride with Mercedes in the Navigator. Once they were all gone he turned towards the other two.

"Soooo… I know we already talked about everything this weekend, but I've had this planned since Thursday and I just couldn't in good conscience let a performance slip away," he joked. "Erm, and I just… I really am sorry. I swear that I'll never lie again and that I should have said something from that very first moment in the hallway…I don't even-"

"Kurt," Wes interrupted. "Stop rambling. It's okay. We're okay. And the song… said enough. It was beautiful."

"Your voice, Kurt," Blaine added eyes widening slightly, "is so amazing. I had no idea from when we were younger. I mean, you just never sang when we did! And like Wes said, the song said it all. That doesn't mean I'm not still a little upset with you. I am, but it was always going to pass. You're too important to me to let go over a silly glee club issue."

Kurt bit his lip in relief and felt his heart rate speed up.

"And hey thanks buddy," Wes said with a grin as he clapped Kurt on the shoulder and began guiding them toward the door. "You gave us a sneak peak into the world of New Directions. I have to say I'm a bit nervous now. We're going to have to step up our game."

Kurt smirked at him.

"Oh Wesley, that wasn't even our A-team of singers. Better bring it, big time."

They all laughed.

"Okay," Blaine said, still smiling, "enough shop talk. How about that coffee? And then what say you Wesley, that we go pillage the Hudson-Hummel again household for dinner?"

"I mean, only if Kurt's step mother cooks better than Burt."

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><p><strong>The songs in this chapter were Pink's "Who Knew" and David Guetta's "Without You."<strong>

**Up-Next: Dinner with the Hudmels again, and a little Finchel drama.**


	19. Friday Night Dinner

**AN: Thank you so much to everyone for hanging in there with me! I apologize for the extremely long delay :/ Just RL taking over. I am posting this chapter and the next one tonight. Chapter 19 is a bit shorter, but Chapter 20 will be a bit longer and things will get serious. Hope you enjoy! Also- Thank you for all of the reviews and favorites and notifications! You're all wonderful.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch. 19. Friday Night Dinner<strong>

Well, well, look who it is. I foresee this becoming a common theme."

"Oh Burt, man, you know you missed me," Wes said as he swaggered past the man into the house.

He grinned and turned around to throw his arms around the taller man.

"Long time no see, kid," Burt agreed as he smacked the boy on the back. "I was waiting for you to show up. I missed having all of my boys around."

Blaine was grinning ear to ear from beside Kurt in the doorway, and reached out to grab his hand.

Kurt froze. Oh god. His gaze snapped to their linked hands as Blaine gave them a squeeze. His heart was starting to do that somersaulting thing again. He was still dazed as Burt gave his friend a one armed hug and ushered them into the living room.

He grabbed Kurt's elbow to stop him before they followed.

"Feeling better buddy?"

He looked back at his father sharply.

"Carole told you, didn't she?"

"No," he said, rolling his eyes. "You don't think I know when my own kid is upset? And Finn told me that you had a fight with your friends from Dalton. Which brings me to another point. Why didn't you tell me that you got beat up?"

Kurt's jaw tightened. Stupid stupid Finn.

"I didn't get beat up. I got shoved into a locker, and I rolled my ankle. But as you can tell I'm getting around just fine."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't be telling me when something like this happens. We can go to the principal…"

"We don't need to do that. Coach Bieste was there and she was furious. She suspended them from the next three games and is making them do some tutoring. She also went to Figgins. I'm very okay with it. In fact, I'm touched. To be honest dad, this is the first time a teacher has really stood up for me."

"Where was Finn?" Burt asked edgily, sounding slightly angry.

"Oh, he was there," Kurt assured quickly. "He showed up late, but they had to hold him back from Karofsky and the others. We're lucky he didn't get suspended from the team too."

His father nodded, "Okay, well I don't want to ruin tonight, but just keep in mind that I'm your Dad and I need to know these things. We're a family, and we figure out stuff together."

Kurt gave him a tight-lipped smile, and then sighed.

"I love you, Dad."

"Love you too, kid. I'm glad that you brought the boys around."

He grinned and turned to go join his friends in the living room. He found them situated on the couch across from Finn, watching a Buckeyes game. He rolled his eyes.

"So Kurt, what _was_ David doing here yesterday anyway? Not that I'm not grateful someone was here to have your back, but I thought he kind of hated your guts."

"Nah dude, they're totally cool now," Finn said without looking up from the game. "He totally saved Kurt's ass yesterday when he came to Lima. I bet you already know, but a bunch of jocks were ganging up on Kurt and beating him up and your pal just totally went all ninja on them and socked Bradley Cohen. Which, good on him. I hate that asshole. If I'd been there I would have done more than that. But seriously guys, he was like Chuck Norris or something. Without the boots."

"Finn!" Carole shrieked from the next room where she and Burt were finishing dinner. "Language!"

"Finn," Kurt growled. "Quit telling everyone I got beat up. I twisted my ankle and banged my head a bit- I'm _fine._"

"The rambling must be a family trait," Wes Joked to Blaine.

"Wait a minute," Blaine said, ignoring him. "I think we should talk about this. Regardless of what you're calling it, you got beat up! That's not okay. And why did we find out from David- what was he doing in Lima anyway?"

Kurt sighed.

I hate you," he said, throwing a pillow at his brother.

Finn flipped him off.

"Finn!" Carole shouted.

"How the hell does he always know?"

"I swear to God, Finn Hudson, don't make me come in there!"

Kurt clapped a hand over his mouth and giggled. He looked over at his friends and saw that their expressions were still serious.

"Okay, come on guys. I didn't really get beat up. I was just shoved into some lockers. I rolled my ankle a bit, and felt kind of nauseous. Seriously though, I feel much better today. And David… was there to see me and tell me to hurry up and make things better. Apparently your moping was driving him nuts," Kurt paused to stick out his tongue at them. "Anyway, he just happened to show up at the perfect time. I'm not at all convinced I wouldn't have ended up in the dumpster…"

"Well that sounds like David: abrupt and getting into fights," Wes said with a sigh.

"No, no," Blaine said, hands jerking out to grab Kurt's and clenching tightly. "What do you mean you would have 'ended up in the dumpster'?"

Kurt sighed and squeezed gently trying to dislodge the boy's hand (not something he thought he'd actually want) was cutting off his circulation.

"Let's just say that being thrown into the dumpster is a pretty common occurrence for me. Recently they've actually started padlocking it, which I haven't got a clue how they got that idea."

"I don't know how, either," Finn said grumpily. "There's someone with you like every second of the day. How they manage to catch you the one minute you're alone is maddening. I just want to go pound their effin faces in."

"Wait, you get thrown into the dumpster- as in plural? Like this has happened more than once?" Wes asked with a scowl.

Blaine was giving him a horrified look.

"Well, to be fair, not a whole lot anymore, just when I happen to catch them in a bad mood. Puck was the general antagonist with that."

"That's…messed up," Wes said.

"Seriously, though, I'm good. Let's not talk about it."

Blaine and Wes exchanged a look that did not go unnoticed. He rolled his eyes.

"Kurt- I don't think this conversation is over. I really think we need to talk about this again. This sounds more serious than I thought, and I'm reallyworried."

"Later," he interrupted. "Please."

Wes scowled again, but nodded and shifted a bit closer to Kurt so that their legs were touching slightly. Kurt smiled at the small comfort willingly offered just to make him feel better.

Blaine finally released his death grip on Kurt's hand, but didn't let go. He too moved in closer and lay his head on Kurt's shoulder. His heart rate sped up slightly, and he refused to look at either of them. It was beginning to feel like a Kurt sandwhich and he just didn't know what to do with that.

Instead he looked over at Finn, and for the first time since they'd gotten home he noticed that Finn was looking a bit upset.

He chucked another pillow.

"What's wrong with you?"

Finn sighed and looked away from the game.

"Okay, first- sorry if this is TMI for you two," he said apologetically to Wes and Blaine. "I need to have a quick brother moment."

"Hey, man, your house. Plus Kurt's our friend so that automatically includes you in the group. One big family," Wes offered with a shrug.

Kurt almost grinned maniacally when he heard that, but kept it hidden.

"What's up my brother from another mother?"

Finn heaved another sigh.

"Okay, so you know how I actually did sleep with Santana?"

Kurt wrinkled his nose.

"Yes, I am aware of this."

"Well Rachel found out today… Santana got pissed at something she said and she told her."

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, how did she not know? I thought everybody knew?"

"Yeah, well she didn't, and now she's not talking to me. Also, Santana said I had fudge filled man boobs."

Wes whistled. "Harsh dude."

"And kind of gross," Blaine said wrinkling his nose.

"Well I would give her time. She'll come around. I mean you guys weren't even dating when you slept with Santana. Plus she went around telling everyone that she slept with Jesse. She can't actually be too mad at you."

"Yeah," he said with a sad pout. "I just want her to let it go. She's being ridiculous."

"Finn, this is Rachel we're talking about."

"Yeah," he said. "I guess you're right."

"For a group that sings so well together, you guys sure are dramatic," Wes said. "I'm glad our boys aren't like that."

"Be glad none of them are dating. I think everyone has just about dated everyone or at least made out with them in our group," Finn said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hey we have a couple or two in our group. But I have instated a policy that basically says leave it outside the choir room and pick it back up when you leave. We need to be a well oiled acapella singing machine if we're going to win this year."

"Are you like the lead singer?"

"No, I'm just one of the council members. Instead of having our sponsor run the meetings and choose songs we run things in a democratic fashion where everyone has a chance to say what they think and audition for solos."

"Sounds a lot more productive than just letting Rachel have all of the solos because no one wants to hear her voice anymore…"

"Dude, that's my girlfriend."

"I mean, she is a bit of a drama queen," Kurt retorted.

Their discussions on Rachel Berry and Finn's sexual escapades was cut short as Carole called them in for dinner.

Dinner was a relaxed and happy filled affair as they all traded barbs and laughed wildly. Wes had introduced himself to Carole and made the seemingly customary remark on Burt's cooking, and how the only reason he'd returned was because he'd heard she was much better at it than him.

Burt had sneered and thrown a carrot at the boy.

It had the potential to develop into a fully-fledged food fight, despite Carole's warnings, until the doorbell rang.

Every member in the family automatically threw a finger up onto their nose.

"Nose goes," Kurt shouted loudly, grinning at Wes and Blaine's bemused expressions.

Blaine caught on last, and Burt gave him a sly look.

"I've always considered you like a son. Go get the door."

Blaine pouted; as Carole was laughing so hard she began to cough.

Kurt grinned, but took mercy on him.

"I'll get it."

He was surprised to open the door and find one very morose Rachel Berry standing on the other side.

"Hi Kurt, I'm here to see Finn."

He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling.

"Well, come in. FINN. Your girlfriend is here to see you."

There was a sound of clattering and stumbling that Kurt was sure meant that Finn was scrambling to get out of the kitchen faster than his limbs were meant to move.

"Hi, Rachel," the boy in question gasped out as he joined them in the hall.

"Hi," she stuttered. "Umm, Kurt can you give us a moment alone?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. I'll just be… in the kitchen."

He turned and fled through the archway to rejoin his family.

"That Rachel I hear?" his Dad asked as he re-entered.

"Yep. I have a feeling tonight's going to be one of those nights."

"Oh great," he groaned. "Can't I enjoy my low-sodium, low taste meal in peace just once?"

Carole snorted.

"Rachel like, the Rachel he was talking about? The one who sang with you guys today?" Blaine asked.

"Yes. I should probably have warned you that this could happen. You think I'm dramatic- well, she's five bazillion times worse."

"Oh boy," Wes said.

_"YOU MADE OUT WITH PUCK?"_

Kurt's fork clattered to his plate and he clapped a hand to his mouth.

"Oh shit."

"Language," Carole managed to get out around her worry for Finn.

Kurt was torn between emotions. Anger, surprise, a small moment of humor and sympathy for Finn. It wasn't funny though, he reminded himself. Being cheated on was not a good thing, and Finn deserved much better than that. Rachel making out with Puck wasn't exactly unexpected, but it was terrible. Then there was the little fact that all of Finn's serious girlfriends had made out with Puck at some point or another. Finn just had bad luck with girls. Or he just had a bad best friend. Kurt wasn't sure which one made more sense. Of course, what most people didn't realize was that everyone made out with Puck eventually.

He tried to pretend he wasn't eavesdropping- but the looks on everyone's faces told him that the whole table was eavesdropping.

_"Are you breaking up with me?"_

_"I… no. But please get out. I need some time to think, Rachel. Okay? You know that this is why Quinn and I broke up. Why is it that every girl I date makes out with my best friend? I love you, Rachel. I love you, I love you, I love you. But right now I hate you. I don't want to break up. I need some time to figure this out for myself. I can't even look at you."_

"Yikes," Wes whispered.

Rachel's sobs faded out as she presumably left and then Finn's stomping feet could be heard and then the slam of a door.

"I'll go talk to him," Carole said, getting up.

Kurt made a mental note to check in with Finn later after the boys had left. He wanted to make sure his step-brother was okay.

As she left, Wes turned to him wide eyed.

"Is it always so dramatic around here?"

He and his dad exchanged a look and both smiled.

"Yeah, pretty much," Burt said. "Alright, boys, go watch a movie or something. I'll clear up here."

"Oh no, let us help," Blaine protested, standing up to help gather dishes.

Burt thwapped him on the back of the head, "Get ouuut."

The three of them grinned and took off. Kurt led them down the hall to his room.

"Well it certainly looks like Kurt Hummel's room," Wes said with a grin.

Kurt smirked back. He knew that Wes was zoning in on the tasteful décor and the beige walls.

"What should we watch?" he asked as he flopped down onto the bed..

Blaine looked through his movie collection and grinned, holding up a colorful case, practically bouncing on his toes. His grin was so wide that Kurt could practically see his molars.

"Hercules," he said with a laugh. "You cheeseball."


	20. Never Been Kissed

**AN: Thank you again for holding out and waiting so long. I hope you enjoy this chapter. We're in the last quarter of the story, so be expecting things to pick up! I will do my very best to have the story updated at least once a week (probably fridays). **

***Warning: Brief mentions of potential triggering situations (Karofsky's kiss). If you had trouble with it in the show- it will make a reappearance here.***

**On a side note- I do not hate Karofsky- and he may yet have a redeeming moment in this fic. However- this is just a repeat of cannon events, altered to fit this AU. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own glee.**

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><p><strong>19. Never Been Kissed<strong>

Kurt stood outside the door listening to the Warblers harmonizing, and with his eyes closed he could almost pretend that he's in there with them; that he's one of them. He can imagine that he'd never left Dalton, and he was still happy and healthy and with his two best friends in the world.

They sounded like a dream. They really did, and Kurt thinks that maybe it's the most beautiful sound he's heard in a long while. Blaine's voice stood out above the others. Even when they were kids Blaine's voice had been awe-inspiring and whether he was singing or speaking or yelling or whispering, Kurt had loved it. It had made him feel loved. Now it made his heart flutter.

He knows he shouldn't be here. Knows that he probably should leave. But upon being pushed to the brink, his flight instinct had sent him flying straight to Dalton and his friends. There wasn't anything they could do though…about this. So really, he should just suck it up and leave.

He convinced himself that he just needed a minute to get his shaking limbs under control and fight the pressure building in his throat. After he regained control he could leave. He'd just pretend he'd never come. He'll buy some new concealer on the way home, because there was no way he could just walk into the house without Finn or his Dad noticing.

He'll pretend _it_ never happened.

"Kurt?" a familiar and comforting voice shatters any pretence of control that he had and he jerked away and stiffened as pain erupted through his spine. He knows it's Wes. He had to snap out an arm and grab the wall to keep himself from spinning around. Suddenly he was supremely aware of what reaction Wes would have if he saw.

"Oh Cheezus, Wes," he gasped, trying to get his breathing back under control, "you scared me."

Wes' hand is still on his shoulder, warm and steady and Kurt thought it was probably the only thing holding him upright at the moment.

"Sorry, sorry!" Wes said from behind him, sounding truly apologetic. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to say hi, and see why you were here. Also- _what _is a cheezus?"

He can't be sure if his friend is actually oblivious to his internal panicking or not. They've known each other for a long time, and if anyone could see through one of facades it would be Wes or Blaine.

"Long story," he said quickly, "and no reason. Do I need a reason to see my friends?"

Wes released his shoulder and shifted to try and get face to face with him, and Kurt twisted away from him.

"No," Wes said slowly, "you don't. But we already have plans to catch up tomorrow…Kurt what's going on?

"Nothing's going on," he shrugged. "Maybe I'm spying on the Warblers again. I thought you'd be in there."

"I was running late because my English teacher held me back after class…you're avoiding the question Kurt. Why are you here right now?"

There was a slight, awkward, pause where they both avoided the irony of the insinuation before Wes opened his mouth again and tried to make light of the situation.

"You are totally not spying again. And if you are- you are still the _worst_ spy ever. Blaine could be a better spy than you."

"I told you I-"

"Kurt," Wes said pointedly.

Kurt knew at this moment that Wes hadn't bought into his weak lie, and prepared himself for the fallout. He didn't need to see him to know that he was standing behind him with his arms folded across his chest, eyes narrowed.

"I just," he swallowed thickly, it was hard to breathe with the pressure there, "I wanted to see you. I needed to get out, get away. It wasn't… it's not… I'm not… I shouldn't have come. I should go."

He turned to do just that, making sure his face was tilted down and away from Wes' line of view.

"Kurt, you can come see us anytime you need to, you know we'll…"

His lips were quivering and his eyes stung as he finally met the eyes of his old friend, who had stopped talking to him and was just staring.

Slowly, as the seconds passed, Wes' facial expression went from surprised to confused to _angry._ Wes looked furious, and he'd only been looking at Kurt's face for like 20 seconds. His grip on Kurt's arm tightened in an attempt to hold him in place and he winces openly.

Wes jerked his hand awy. His brown eyes were dark and his mouth contorted into a thin line.

"What. The. Hell?" are the first words he manages to get out.

"What the hell?" he repeats, and then demands: "Who did this?"

Kurt refused to pull his eyes from the floor and the trembling returned full force. He was not okay. Not even close.

He opened his mouth to try and calm Wes down, but finds that the only thing that left his lips was a strangled whine. He knew what Wes was seeing. He was seeing Kurt's stupid white skin even paler than normal so that his coral colored lips stood out frighteningly, and the blood from where his lip was painfully split tainted the perfection he normally strove for. A purpling bruise would be blooming across his right cheekbone and he knew that it likely resembled a splatter painting where the artist just decided to let loose.

It was ugly.

He couldn't fight back the tears anymore and that pressure in his throat explodes and suddenly before Wes could interrogate him any further, Kurt threw himself at his friend and sobbed into his perfectly pressed Dalton blazer.

He'd forgotten what a hug from ones best friend felt like. It wasn't anything like the hugs he got from his friends in Lima. It wasn't stiff or quick or embarrassed. Wes reacted instinctively, the way only someone who had plenty of practice comforting his best friends could, and looped his arms around Kurt's smaller shaking frame and just let him cry. He rubbed a hand soothingly up his back and all Kurt knew was that this felt safe. He'd missed this feeling of acceptance and love and ability to hug or touch his friends without being admonished afterward.

He felt so stupid, so weak. Such a cry baby. He hated crying.

"Blaine!" Wes shouted, and Kurt thought he heard something akin to panic in his voice. He tried to pull away because he was sure he'd heard that tone before. God he was a freak. He was weak and a freak, and he freaked people out. He- Wes held him place, stopping his frantic call to their friend and tried to tell Kurt it was okay.

He cried harder.

The singing had stopped, Kurt realized, and now there were a bunch of boys gathering at the door. He stiffened and tried to hide away inside Wes' shoulder.

"What is it, what's going on?" Blaine's angelic voice asked as it got closer, pushing through the crowd of boys. "Wes? …Kurt? What's going on?"

The sobs had let up, and he was now hiccupping off and on, but he still can't get a handle on his breathing.

He could _feel_ Blaine at his side, a warm gentle hand splaying out over his back, fingers tight with concern.

"What's going on, Wes?" he repeated.

He was addressing Wes, Kurt assumed, because no answers would probably be leaving him at the moment.

"Something's wrong," Wes growled. "His face…"

A ragged and outraged hiccup tore from his throat, and Wes seemed to understand. Kurt was a proud person, and even though he was already making a spectacle of himself. He didn't need the whole world knowing his secrets.

Blaine understood too, because he did not question further or shift around to look at his face, but instead wrapped his arms without hesitation around Kurt from behind, forming an awkward and probably embarrassing looking group hug. He let it pass because Blaine would have insisted and anyway he could use the comfort anyway.

"Everything okay out here?" a newer, still familiar but less dear, voice asked from just beyond his little bubble.

His eyes flickered over to the boy standing tersely to the side of him and he felt even worse. He squeezed his eyes shut again and he chocked on a breath.

God, David already hated him and instead of just waiting to meet up with Wes and Blaine tomorrow he just had to show up now, upset and distraught and looking all the world like he was trying to steal them back from him. He hated himself for that right then. He hated himself for a lot of things.

He didn't see the concerned and slightly frightened expression on David's face when he caught a glimpse of the harsh condition of Kurt's face. Kurt just tried again to pull away.

Blaine and Wes ignored this action and held him firmly in place. Kurt knew he was safe, but felt a little panicky with all of this not letting him move, and he began to struggle blindly.

"Let's get him away from here," Blaine said.

"We'll take him to mine and David's," Wes replied firmly, before twisting a little and looking at his friend and roommate. "Can you and Thad handle the rest of the meeting?"

He must have said yes, because Blaine was shifting him gently, gently, and keeping a protective arm around his waist, while Wes kept a hand around his shoulders and they half held him up and half guided him forward.

"I'm sorry," he croaked as they led him up a flight of stairs. "Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't have come. I'm sorry."

"Hush, you," Blaine murmured as they stopped briefly between flights so that he could breathe.

He'd seen their rooms a few times since back in freshman year before they'd stopped talking, and he'd always been very jealous. The freedom to decorate their rooms any way they wanted without their parents lording over them, and the nice furniture and expensive looking duvets. This time though, as he was ushered into Wes' room, his eyes were clouded with tears and he was struggling to just _breathe_ so he took no notice of the furnishings. Blaine let go of him momentarily to shut the door and Wes gently pushed him down into one of the desk chairs, his hand never leaving Kurt's shoulder.

Blaine returned and knelt before him, taking one of his hands and caressing it gently. He pulled Kurt's chin up so he could get a look at Kurt's face. Kurt could just make out Blaine's angry expression. He expected Blaine to demand answers too, but instead he told Wes to get the first aid kit.

"Breathe Kurt," he murmured, all gentleness and deep concern when he turned back to Kurt.

God Kurt had missed this; missed his friends. He had said it before and thought it often, but it hadn't hit him just how much until this moment, when he was hurt and upset and without question they took care of him. No one at McKinley had ever done that for him. No one. He reflected on this as he took deep breathes, head pounding, and finally the tears began to recede.

He wiped at his eyes furiously when he had control again, and smiled blearily at Blaine, who was staring up at him with such concern and worry that Kurt felt his heart swell.

Wes returned with the kit and stood on the side that Blaine wasn't kneeling next to, and held up a wet cloth that Blaine accepted. He wiped Kurt's face gently, taking extra care to clean the cut on his lip and wipe away the remaining tracks of wetness running down his cheeks. Kurt felt slightly embarrassed, but stayed silent anyway.

Wes produced an icepack for his swollen lip and Kurt took it gratefully, finally looking his friend in the eyes. Wes was silently fuming, and so was Blaine.

"I-"he rasped.

"Seriously, please stop apologizing. You have nothing to be sorry for. I don't even know why you're apologizing in the first place," Wes said.

"I shouldn't have come," he said again, "I just… I needed something. I don't know. I was upset and I just ran, well drove really, but yeah…"

Blaine sighed and sat down on the bed and looked at him.

"Kurt," he started, and Kurt was suddenly afraid that this was where they told him to stop coming. That they couldn't be friends with a cry baby like him and that he needed to put on his big boy pants and just learn how to take care of himself.

_Listen dude, I can't be there to defend you all the time._

_Kurtie, you just have to learn how to avoid Karofsky and the other jocks. You won't get hurt that way._

_Listen, Kurt, I know we're friends, but I can't be seen with you… Glee club already does enough harm to my reputation._

"I know that we're just getting to know each other again and there are lots of things that we don't know about each other. And maybe we've sort of lost each other somewhere. But, Kurt, that doesn't mean that we ever _ever_ stopped caring about you. We were best friends, the three of us, since we were five. That's a long time. Whatever happened two years ago that made us drift apart? That's not enough to discount 11 years of friendship. Never think you can't come to us when you need us, okay?"

Kurt stared, eyes wide and glistening. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He didn't know what to say.

"What have they done to you at that public school of yours?" Wes joked when he didn't say anything.

All three of them winced at the dark irony of the statement. Kurt's eyes found the floor again.

"What happened Kurt?" Blaine asked quietly from the bed, hands clasped together as he leaned down on his knees, watching Kurt carefully.

"Don't get us wrong," Wes added quickly. "We're glad you came to us, but there has to be a reason."

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut, and a single tear escaped the captivity of his lids.

"I haven't been completely honest with you about how bad the bullying is," Kurt whispered.

He heard an intake of breath and then silence prompting him to continue.

"But this, this wasn't just bullying. This was…I don't even know what to call it. I never thought it would happen to _me_. It was…"

"_You are nothing but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily ordinary you are!"_

_Kurt let out a squeak of protest as he was shoved back into the lockers, hard. A fist connected with his face and his head slammed back into the cold metal. He was in shock for a moment and they both stared at each other. Then Kurt tried to leave, and he felt two hands shoving firmly back into the locker and then… a pair of lips connected with his._

_This wasn't his first kiss, but it was the first one he hadn't wanted to give; the first one stolen from him. He lifted his hands and shoved at Karofsky as hard as he could so that he could get the hell away from here, but Karofsky responded by bringing his arms up to hold Kurt in place._

_"Come on, Hummel, lets just do this. No one has to know."_

_Kurt began to panic as the lips latched onto his again. Oh god, stop stop stop… Hands roamed- almost gently, and God that made it even worse, because he still couldn't fight against it- coming down to clutch his hips_

_And then for a single moment Kurt's head cleared and he heard his father's voice in his ear._

_"You are never defenseless. If some asshole thinks he can manhandle you, you gotta fight back with everything you have. Kick, bite, scream…"_

_He then brought his knee up in between the boy's legs and then shoved him off with all of his might, lashing out with his leg and kicking out again to make sure he was down for the count._

_Then he took off._

_"Hummel!"_

"It was what?" Wes' voice brought him back from his memory, and he felt nausea building up.

"He tried to…he just grabbed me and he k-kissed me and … oh, I'm going to be sick," he broke off and clapped a hand over his mouth.

A trash basket was shoved into his hands and Kurt didn't have time to be embarrassed as he emptied the contents of his stomach into it. A hand found his back and rubbed soothing circles until his stomach muscles unclenched and he sat there breathing heavily, leaning over the basket between his legs, bile dripping from his clammy lips.

Being so focused on not being sick again, Kurt did not see the frightened exchange between his friends, nor did he notice David standing at the doorway.

It was hours later that Kurt woke up in a room not his own. He began to panic before he recognized the blue blazer lying across a desk chair across the room. He was with Wes or Blaine, at Dalton.

The fuzzy memories flooded back to him and he nearly buried himself back under the undeniably warm covers that he was ensconced in. He'd made such an idiot of himself. His friends probably thought he was a pathetic idiot.

Where were his friends? Did they have class to go to, or dinner? He sat up slightly, propping up a pillow so that he could sit up against the headboard.

Glancing briefly at the bedside table he noticed two things. First was a note that had his name declared in bold black letters and the second was his phone. He reached for the letter first.

_**Kurt-** We ran down to the dining hall to get dinner for all of us. We'll be back by 7 : ) _

_Ps. Called your dad and told him you had come to visit, but weren't feeling well. He said to just stay put and come home tomorrow._

_Blaine_

Dinner? But… hadn't it just been 3 p.m.? He picked up his phone next. 6:50. They must have only recently left the note. He was hungry, so he would be grateful when they came back.

There were also five new texts on his phone.

**From: Dad  
>-Blaine called and said you weren't feeling well. Everything okay? Call me when you wake up.<strong>

**Finn: Dude, where are you! You missed glee club.**

**Rachel: KURT HUMMEL. You are not allowed to miss Glee practice! Sectionals are next week! I am severely disappointed.**

**Mercedes: Where are you?**

**Tina: Kurt, you missed Western Civ and Glee. I got the homework for you. Where are you anyway?**

He sighed and quickly typed out a mass text letting everyone know that he was all right but not feeling the greatest. He then sunk back down into the bed, allowing himself to momentarily pretend that none of this afternoon had happened. He only vaguely wondering as an afterthought whose bed he was in? He wondered if it was Blaine's, and then quickly pushed that thought away. There was nothing going on there. It was completely platonic. He pulled a pillow over his face.

"You're going to have to come out sometime," Wes said from the doorway with a small smile as he, Blaine, and David poured back into the room, laden with dinner trays and various bags and containers.

"We raided the kitchen after we went to the dining hall. I come bearing mint chocolate chip ice cream," Blaine said with a knowing grin.

_I love you_ is what he thought.

"My hips!" is what left his lips.

"Oh please," David said with a good-natured roll of his eyes. "You are so skinny that you could eat three pints and probably not gain a pound."

"He's always had a fast metabolism," Blaine observed and smirked when Kurt stuck his tongue out.

They placed the ice cream and other novelties in their mini-fridge and set down a tray of food on the table beside Kurt. He looked it over; Pasta Alfredo, Green Bean Casserole, a dinner roll, Cheese fries and milk. Holy cow, what kind of cafeteria did this place have? McKinley would never have anything this delicious or fresh looking.

"Thank you," he said with a smile. "Listen, guys, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry for freaking out on you back there."

"What did I say about apologizing?" Wes said with a sigh. "Besides, it sounds like you had good reason."

"Kurt, I… you don't have to, but I really think you should tell us what's going on. When you told us it was a bit jumbled."

Kurt was picking his way through the casserole and refused to meet their eyes.

"I don't really know where the breakdown came from. Well, okay, I do. It probably came from all of the stress I've been putting myself under for classes, and the bullying, and Glee Club, and worrying about Dad, and then this… I wasn't even expecting something like this. Did I think that Karofsky was a homophobic bigot who might possibly beat the crap out of me if provoked? Yes, I did. Did I think he would… kiss me? Not in a million years. I just feel so… violated."

"Did he rape you?"

Kurt squeaked and nearly dropped the fork he was holding.

"No, no. I mean…. I don't know if he would have or not. He…" he swallowed. "He kissed me and was holding me in place and touching me… and I told him to stop. He didn't. So I did what any freaked out person would do. I kneed him in the nads and took off."

There was a collective sigh of relief.

"It's so weird, because even though he's a total jerk and he just kissed me against my will and I've just found out he's a closeted idiot…I don't want to see him as the bad guy here."

"WHAT?"

"What I mean is that he's afraid of who he is. It doesn't excuse what he did, but it makes it easier to… let go? I don't know. I'm alternating here. One minute I feel upset and weird and dirty and the next I feel sorry for him."

"Do not feel sorry for him. Kurt, what he did was wrong, so very wrong. You are the wronged party here, and you are allowed to be mad. I'm mad. I'm furious."

And it was true, Kurt didn't remember ever seeing Blaine this angry.

"Yeah," he said softly. "I know. Thanks for taking care of me, and for not telling my Dad."

"What are friends for?" Wes asked.

"David, I just… thank you for being here too. It means a lot. I'd like to think that maybe we're friends now."

"Friends," David agreed. "I look forward to getting to know you more. I apologize for my behavior before."

"No problem, I'm sure I deserved some of it. Now… can I have that ice cream?"

"I thought you were worried about your _hips_," Blaine teased from his spot where he'd settled on the bed at the end of Kurt's feet.

Kurt growled and shoved his food tray aside.

"I'll show you worry for my hips!" he declared as he tackled the blazered boy.

"That… doesn't… even make sense," Blaine gasped as he struggled to take control of the impromptu wrestling match.

It was this moment that Kurt became supremely aware of his position. Oh. Shit. He was layed out across Blaine, hips touching hips, chests pressed together, knees firmly planted on either side of the other boy's.

"Say Uncle," he breathed.

Their eyes locked and he was momentarily displaced. They were like one massive being, breaths coming and going in cycles, limbs entangled, hearts beating at an accelerated rate.

"I vote that Kurt wins," Wes declared, and the spell was broken.

"Uncle," Blaine agreed softly.

Kurt rolled off of him with lightning speed and nearly fell off the bed as he reached for the mini-fridge and pulled the ice cream out triumphantly.

"I win," he added unnecessarily as they all laughed.

He could feel Wes' eyes burning into his shoulder without looking. The jerk was too perceptive for his own good.

"Movie?" Kurt suggested as a distraction.

"No, not tonight," Blaine said gently from the spot where he was still sprawled, feet resting against his thigh now. "You have to drive all the way back to Lima tomorrow for school. We probably shouldn't stay up late. Wouldn't want you falling asleep at the wheel."

"Burt would so kill us."

He rolled his eyes.

"Well what do you suggest then?"

"Weeeellll," Wes said with a grin, "there are some old friends of your who are dying to see you."

That was how Kurt ended up being the center of attention for the rest of the night as Jeff and Nick and the other boys he'd previously gone to school with flooded the room.

It felt right.


	21. Confrontation

**AN: Hi Guys! Okay, not quite Friday but not too long after. Sorry about the wait! I got called out right as I was getting ready to finish and post last night….sigh. Anyway this chapter is brief, but I already have the next one ready to go (It ended up making more sense to split the chapter up with this first part), so I'll be posting the next one in a few minutes too. Please excuse spelling and grammar errors, they are unintentional!**

**And I've got all weekend to write so I might have the next chapter up sooner. Friday/Saturday at the latest.**

**Thank you for all the reviews and favorites and just everything. I appreciate all feedback! You guys are the greatest. Hope you have a good weekend.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own glee.**

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><p><strong>21. Confrontation<strong>

Kurt was walking down the hallway with his head down, trying to ignore the looks that his friends would give him whenever he passed them in the hall.

"Come on Kurt you missed Glee practice. You never miss Glee. Where were you?" Sam had asked.

He just shook his head quietly and said he hadn't been feeling well.

"You were at Dalton with your boys, right?" Santana teased him between classes.

He rolled his eyes at her, but stayed silent.

"Kurt, you're okay, right? Nothing bad happened?" Mercedes asked anxiously as they walked to their lockers before lunch.

He looked over at her and _really_ wished he felt like he could tell her what had happened. How Karofsky had … come after him and his subsequent breakdown and how Blaine and Wes and even David had taken care of him, and how his feelings for Blaine were just that much stronger and it was tearing him apart because he hated being friends with someone he was attracted to, someone he felt was unattainable. He wanted to tell her that he was _tired_, so very tired, of being bullied. It was like being the record in a record player that was stuck on a loop. He felt okay, he felt good, he felt really really bad- repeat.

"No," he said, offering her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

She didn't look one hundred percent convinced, but was easily distracted when he told her about the sale at their favorite shoe store.

When they rounded the corner toward their lockers, Kurt nearly tripped over his own feet because there, leaning up against his locker, was Blaine. Blaine was here, in his uniform, and he was staring down at his phone in deep concentration and hadn't noticed them. He couldn't stop the nervous blush that crept up his cheeks.

"Hey!" Mercedes said to him excitedly. "Is that…?"

"Yeah," he said weakly.

What was Blaine doing here? He considered, for reasons he really couldn't explain, just turning around and running in the other direction. Blaine shouldn't be here at McKinley. It wasn't safe, it was hell, and Kurt didn't like mixing the two worlds. Also it was just Blaine. Which normally wouldn't bother him, but all of a sudden his palms are sweaty and his tongue is dry and it feels like his heart is going to jump out of his chest, and he just doesn't know what to do with these feelings. But before he can do anything, Mercedes has called out to Blaine.

"Blaine! I didn't know you were coming!"

Blaine looked up and his eyes brightened, and he tucked his phone away.

"I thought I'd come surprise Kurt. I missed him and I thought we could do lunch. You're welcome to join us? "

He paused for a moment, smile still on his face and looked over at Kurt, "That is, of course, if you'd like to come to lunch with me. I sort of just assumed. Sorry."

"Don't be ridiculous," Kurt said softly. "Of course I'll have lunch with you."

"Great!" he said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Kurt looked over at Mercedes and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Oh no, no it's okay. I'm actually planning to stage a TOT war today at lunch. Probably best you aren't here anyway. Sue Sylvester will rue the day that she ever banned my tots," she said with a maniacal giggle.

Kurt blinked at her, "O-kay. Just… you know, don't do anything bad enough to make her kill you. I need my best friend alive to help me study for the Physics test next week."

She stuck her tongue out and turned away, merging into Tina's and Mike's group as they walked toward the lunchroom.

"Tot war?" Blaine asked, eyebrows raised high.

Kurt sighed.

"People in this school… really love their tots. The cheerleading coach has taken over as principal briefly, and has banned tater tots in order to create a healthier lunch. It's not going well. Mercedes is… unnaturally obsessed. I think she's projecting her issues onto this situation."

"Well, I can't say I quite follow, but… okay. So, umm Kurt I have something to ask you."

Kurt tensed. Oh god, what would Blaine have to ask him? What if it was something bad? What if he'd made Blaine mad or… or what if Wes had told Blaine about his feelings? No, surely Wes wouldn't do something like that.

Blaine made a soothing sound and reached out to pat him on the shoulder.

"Hey, don't look so worried. I just… I am here for lunch, but I also wondered, um, if maybe you'd like me to confront Karofsky with you? I mean, just to tell him to back off and that we could help him or find him someone to help him because this is such a hard thing to deal with. And I just…I mean I don't _want _to help him, because he hurt _you_. I really just want to pound his face in, because how could anyone hurt someone so sweet and beautiful? But… you and I have both been through this kind of bullying and he's obviously confused and scared. So, maybe you don't want to, and you have every right to say no, but at the very least we could talk to him and tell him to back off."

Kurt was staring at Blaine with wide eyes. He could see how conflicted Blaine was, and how hard he was trying to convince himself to the right thing. Had the situation been different, he might have laughed at the warring looks of anger and empathy on the boy's face. How could Blaine be real? He was perhaps the nicest, most noble person that Kurt had ever met.

"You would do that for me?"

Blaine rolled his eyes at him.

"Duh, don't be a dummy. Of course I would. I've got your back- always have and always will."

Kurt blinked rapidly, trying not to cry. What in the world had he done to deserve a second chance with Blaine? He was not going to waste it.

"Okay," he said finally. "Okay, let's go talk to Karofsky. He's in second lunch and it's still passing period so we might be able to catch him before he gets to class."

Blaine gave him a small smile and nodded, gripping his elbow.

"It's going to be fine, Kurt. He's _never_ going to hurt you while I'm around. We'll figure this out."

He nodded, silently. Now that he'd agreed his stomach was a tight ball of nerves. He led the way to where he thought Karofsky might be in silence.

And then he saw him on the steps in the courtyard.

"There he is," he mumbled stiffly.

Blaine's posture straightened and all of a sudden he looked composed and strong and Kurt felt a little bit better. At least Blaine had control of his emotions. Kurt was a nervous wreck. What if Karofsky beat them up? Or worse, what if he got his jock friends together and came after him when Blaine was gone?

"I got your back," Blaine reminded as they made their way up the steps.

"Excuse me," Blaine called politely.

Karofsky finally saw them and stopped short, a sneer coming up on his face.

"Hey, lady boys."

Kurt swallowed tightly, gripping his shoulder strap until his fingers were tingling numbly.

"This your boyfriend Kurt?"

Kurt narrowed his eyes and looked over at Karofsky. He'd never called him by his first name before, and he was suddenly very wary of the spark of what could only be jealousy in the other boy's eyes. Oh god.

Whether Blaine saw it or not, he ignored it and continued on.

"Kurt and I would like to talk to you about something," Blaine said, tonelessly.

"Oh yeah?" Karofsky asked, the sneer back in full force. "Well, too bad. I have to go to class."

He pushed through them, hand out and shoving Kurt into the rail.

A soft pained gasp left his lips, and before he knew what was happening there was a flurry of motion and Blaine had somehow managed to get between them and had decked their larger antagonist hard enough to send him stumbling.

People were beginning to notice what was going on, but as was the usual theme of the school, no one said anything and most of them continued walking or stood around whispering to each other.

Blaine was still up in Karofsky's face and was whispering to him furiously.

"Kurt _told me_ what you did, how you kissed him against his will, and if it was my choice I'd have reported your ass to the police for assault. But for Kurt's sake, I'm here trying to help you."

Karofsky let out a growl not unlike a wounded bear, and shoved Blaine back and into the nearby chain link fence.

"You don't know anything, and you do not want to mess with me."

Kurt didn't know how he'd found the strength to move, but suddenly he was between them and forcefully shoving the boy back.

"You have to stop this!" he nearly shrieked. "Please, just stop."

And then Karofsky was staring at Kurt, surprised and… longing? Kurt squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to make sense of it.

There were a few moments of silence where you could have heard them all breathing, as they all stared at each other. The spell was broken, though, as Sue Sylvester appeared out of nowhere and jerked the three boys away from each other.

"Karofsky! Detention for a month. You know the rules, no fighting on school grounds. Get to class, now!"

Kurt was staring at her in wide-eyed surprised as she then rounded on him.

"And you," she growled at Blaine. "Get off of school grounds. You have five minutes or I'll have you escorted off personally."

"But coach, it was Karofsky-" he tried to defend Blaine, but she was having none of it.

"Hummel, you'll have detention too. I want you in my office right after school Understand?"

He swallowed, eyes dropping to the ground, before nodding.

"Now get out of my sight," she demanded.

It had been a long time since he'd seen her that furious, and Kurt wondered what she was going to do to him after school.

"Kurt, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Blaine murmured in horror as she walked away. "I didn't mean for this to get out of hand and I'm just really-"

"Sorry," Kurt finished for him, rolling his eyes and trying to pull himself together. "Don't be sorry. Blaine… what you just did, no one has ever done for me before."

And suddenly he was feeling sad and upset and confused about Karofsky and relieved that Blaine had been there. The weight of it all made him sink down onto the stone steps and sagged.

"Oh Kurt, hey," Blaine caught his attention, expression strained and worried. "It's okay, we're going to figure this out and it's going to be fine. I'm so sorry that you have to deal with this every day. But I'm going to make sure that you don't have to deal with this alone anymore."

And now Blaine was on the steps next to him, tears in his eyes.

Kurt blinked and realized he was crying too. He couldn't do this here, and he certainly would not let Blaine feel guilty for being the best friend he could ever ask for.

"Let's," he rasped tiredly, "Let's go get that lunch you promised me."

Blaine gave him a half-hearted smile and nodded.

"Right, okay. I'll buy."


	22. Road to Sectionals

AN: **Ellery makes a brief reappearance in this chapter. He wont be a big plot point though, just another part of Kurt's daily life. Hope you enjoy it! Hopefully I caught all grammar or spelling errors, if not I sincerely apologize!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own glee.**

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><p><strong>Ch. 22. Road to Sectionals<strong>

After having lunch with Blaine and assuring him that he would be fine returning to school and that he would stay away from Karofsky so that he didn't have to worry, Kurt's day hadn't been all that different from every other day. Boring, filled with classes and homework that could have been more difficult. He'd gone through the motions, gone to his detention, gone home and gone to bed.

His detention with Sue had been a bit unnerving; she'd berated him for once again not bringing his problems to her and asked him if there was anything he needed to report. Kurt hadn't even considered telling her the truth. Instead he shook his head and shrugged. "Nope, nothing to report." She'd then told him that for his detention he would have to either rejoin the cheerios and be off the hook, or he could spend detention with Ms. Pillsbury helping her organize and scrub clean her office for two weeks. He'd chosen the latter and of course she'd thrown a fit and kicked him out of her office.

Blaine had texted him encouraging things all afternoon and Kurt had continued to assure him that he was still fine. He must have told Wes too, because the other boy had been texting him too. Their protectiveness and worry for him warmed his heart, and he fell asleep that night feeling like if he told someone that he was okay it might not be a complete lie.

Glee club the next day was ridiculously awful on the grand scheme of awful rehearsals.

"I need everyone to focus," Mr. Schue said loudly. "We need to work on a set list, and I'd like to feature some voices who haven't already sung for us in a competition."

As expected, that did not go over too well with one Rachel B. Berry.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Kurt took a discreet picture of Rachel with her mouth taped shut later and forwarded it to all of his Dalton friends.

**To: Wes, Blaine, David, Jeff, Nick**

**This is what you have to look forward to at Sectionals. Be afraid. Very. Afraid.**

He smirked as he zoned back into the conversation.

"Would anyone like to volunteer or try out for a solo?"

Kurt would, Kurt would like to volunteer for a solo.

"I gots dibbs Kurtie-pie, don't even think about it."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Santana. Why would I be given equal chance in everything?"

She slugged him.

"Don't have a pity party over there. By the way, Coach is demanding that you show up to practice soon or she'll have to take even more drastic actions."

"Great. I'm tired," he whined at her, leaning his head on her shoulder. "Why don't you just volunteer and get it over with?"

"Because Berry's still at half-steam. We've got another 15 minutes of this, at least. And maybe you're so tired because you had a _very _rigorous night, what with all of those boys around. Finn tells me you stayed at Dalton last night."

He pulled a pencil from his bag and chucked it at the back of Finn's head.

"_Ow,_" he growled, turning around to glare at Kurt. "You are so dead when we get home. You just wait."

He childishly stuck a tongue out at the boy.

**From: Nick**

**What in God's name goes in public schools? This is freaking me out a bit.**

**From: Jeff**

**LOL. Who is this girl?**

**From: Blaine**

**Omg, that's that Rachel girl, right? So strange, public school.**

**PS. How are you doing today?**

**From: Wes  
>Dude…what the hell? Anyway, how is practice going? <strong>

Glee continued to drag on until it was finally decided that Quinn and Sam would have a duet, and Santana would have a solo. It figured.

Santana pinched him to get his attention and gave him a look of triumph. He responded by miming shooting himself. She smirked.

Kurt's Mass Media class was the other thing keeping him occupied this week. Mrs. Klein announced that they would be pairing up to do a project together. The project was to choose a topic that applied to their age group and write a newsworthy article on it, present it to the class, and the best one would actually be featured in the paper. He was _so_ going to win, he decided, as he looked around at the rest of his classmates who were all ignoring the assignment and chattering away.

When they'd been paired up, he was briefly surprised to find that it was Ellery who he was paired with. He'd almost forgotten about the boy completely in the drama of the past few weeks, and was racking his brain trying to figure out how he hadn't noticed him in class when he'd known they had it together.

"Hey Kurt," Ellery said, as he slid into the spot previously occupied by Michele Bates, filling Kurt's workspace with the smell of tobacco and ink. He took a moment to be thankful she was gone too, because he absolutely hated her. She was the journalistic version of Rachel Berry- determined to outdo him in every aspect of the class. She'd told him, very haughtily, on the first day of class that she would be the next editor-in-chief, and he had better be nice.

"Hi," he said with a smile, "you know, I think I forgot that you were in this class."

Ellery gave him a quick smile, "I think I should be offended, but really, I'm just going to let it slide this time."

"Well that is just _so_ gracious of you," he muttered.

"If," Ellery added as an after-thought.

"If?" he questioned.

"If you help me win this competition. I'm going to be on staff next year, and I'm determined to beat out the rest of this ridiculously untalented class."

Kurt actually threw back his head and laughed.

"Oh yes, I can do that," he gasped between giggles. "I think we were made to be partners! I'm going to be on staff next year too. Just imagine it, we'll have all the power in the school! Muahahaha!"

Ellery stared at him in as his faux-evil cackles trailed off.

"Okay, evil journalistic genius, what should we write about?"

Kurt paused and tapped his pen to his cheek thoughtfully. He immediately thought of Karofsky, the dumpsters, the slushies and the football team. He thought about Tina and Mike and the racial slurs they faced, he thought of Santana's reputation and Puck's and Finn's difficulties accepting themselves outside of the "popular" social scene. He thought about the schools lack of handi-capable resources and Sue Sylvester's encouragement of teenage eating disorders.

He thought of Blaine's reminder to be courageous in the face of bullying.

He thought about saying all of this aloud.

_Bullying. I think that we should write about bullying and tolerance in High Schools._

But he didn't think he was that courageous. So instead he pretended he hadn't thought about any of it, and said, "Well, I think there are lots of controversial topics we _could _do. The problem is that we have to consider the audience- which I know, is not the right way to be a journalist, because we're supposed to present the unbiased truth. But lets be honest here… I don't know about you, but I certainly don't need to be any more unpopular. I get slushied way too often. Which again, is sort of cowardly, I know. But my Marc Jacobs collection cannot take any more hits this year. I'll have nothing left! Oh! What if we did something on fashion, or lack of fashion, or… or maybe the graduation rates and who goes to college?"

"Whoa, whoa, hold it. I'm having a hard time following your thought process. Do you always do that?"

Kurt snorted, "The rambling? Yeah, it's unfortunately a curse. You'll learn to speak my language soon enough."

Ellery just stared at him, and then rolled his eyes.

"Right, okay. No caffeine for you. What about teenage pregnancy?"

Kurt shook his head immediately, "No. No, Quinn would either never speak to me again or murder me very very slowly with her nail file."

"O-kay. Well, what if we did something on… students with parents in the military?"

Kurt gave him a searching look, and thought hard about it. Finn and his Dad came to mind, and he remembered how devastated Finn gets when he speaks of his father and how being the widow of an army officer had changed Carole's entire life.

"Okay," he said finally. "I can work with that. What type of article exactly were you thinking?"

"Excellent. I think the idea needs refining, of course. And news article, definitely. I would really love it if we could apply it to McKinley directly; I think that would make this a bit more real for some people."

"You mean if they know how to read," he muttered under his breath, offering the boy a good-natured smile.

Back in the choir room for the "absolutely necessary" after school practice later on that week, Kurt was literally swaying in the background as Quinn and Sam did their lovey-dovey duet. He was pretty sure that it wasn't what Mr. Schue wanted, but he was so beyond caring at this point. It was the end of the day, and he was a bit bitter over being overlooked for a solo again.

"Guys, get serious!" Mr. Schue said with a hint of frustration. "We have sectionals in less than a week. If you want to win, you have to practice right."

He considered pointing out the fact that maybe if they had been preparing for the competition more than 5 days in advance, they might be a bit more prepared. Just because they had won a sectionals competition by performing "on the fly" once, didn't mean that they could or would do it again. And from what Kurt knew of the warblers, they had some _very_ big competition in the works. And that didn't even include Vocal Adrenaline.

They went on like that for two whole hours and by the time Mr. Schuesaid, "Okay, see you bright and early tomorrow for some more practice," Kurt was ready to bang his head on the nearest hard surface.

"Oh my god," he moaned to Mercedes as they walked out to their lockers ahead of the group. "If I have to hear Rachel tell Quinn that she's a little 'pitchy' one more time, I think I might punch someone."

"Kurt, I'm right here!" Rachel snapped from behind him.

"I say it with love, but sweetheart you're kind of a bitch sometimes."

"KURT!"

"Nothing wrong with that, of course," he continued without acknowledging her. "I myself am often a bitch, and there is a lot to be said for the practice…"

"Preach," Santana said as she passed them and turned the corner toward her locker, pinky linked with Britney's.

"But Rachel, you are going above and beyond. Quinn is doing really well."

"Thanks Kurt!" Quinn said with a grin as she grabbed Sam's elbow and dragged him off around the next corner to their lockers.

"Kurt, I think you're being a little unfair. Finn, don't you have anything to say about this?"

Finn shot Kurt a look and then shrugged at Rachel. "I'm sorry, but I don't have anything to say about this Rachel. You are being a little mean to Quinn."

Rachel gasped.

"Finn! You're not supposed to insult your girlfriend!"

There was a brief awkward silence where Finn looked like he wanted the tiles to open up and swallow him, and Kurt and Mercedes shared a knowing look.

"Rachel…" Finn said softly. "I think we need to talk. It's been a week and we've been acting like nothing happened."

"Come on Mercedes, let's go get coffee. See you at home, Finn."

Finn gave him a pained look.

"Yeah, later."

"Poor Finn," Mercedes whispered as they rounded the corner to their own lockers.

Kurt cast a worried look back in the direction they'd come and shrugged.

"It's not like we didn't see this coming, right? They've been off and on for a long time."

"True. Anyway, moving on. Are we going to see some of your super foxy boys at the Bean?"

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"First, they're not "my" boys. Second, I haven't made plans, so unless they decided to drive two whole hours just to come see me after school, I doubt it. Also, we decided not to see each other again before sectionals so as to avoid hard feelings."

"Boy, when are you going to get with Blaine? You like him, he has got to like you, I mean just look at the way he looks at you. Like you're the most wonderful and beautiful thing he's ever seen in his entire existence."

"He's one of my best friends," Kurt replied. "We've been through a lot together. Of course he looks at me like I'm really cool."

"You're totally deflecting," she sighed.

"Well, I've told you it's not going to happen. Not to mention the fact that Blaine has just had a horrific experience with unrequited love- something I'm not unfamiliar with and have no desire to repeat- and also, I'm still stuck on that performance. How can they even consider ever performing in public again? Oh my god."

Mercedes looks torn between giving him an annoyed look and laughing.

"Who's going to perform in public?" Puck asked as he sidled up to stand between them as were both putting things back into their lockers.

He was wearing his trademark baggy jeans, a red and blue McKinley Baseball t-shirt and a pair of hiking boots, and as he leaned back against the locker, her hitched up on leg so that it was bent and resting up against the lockers.

It was kinda sexy.

No.

No. no. no.

Kurt had to forcefully snap himself out of it.

"What do you want Noah?"

"I'm bored. I don't have anything going on tonight. I thought maybe you and me could have a little study session tonight for chemistry."

Kurt seriously resisted slamming his head against the lockers.

"Puck!" Mercedes sighed.

"Physics, Puck. And I have never known you to study in your life. I have the feeling that this suggestion of yours is a masked way either asking me to do your homework or propositioning me… and it's a bit confusing. Are you having trouble with the ladies again? Because maybe you should just go to Cheerio practice and pick someone up. I'm sure that Amanda wouldn't mind _studying_ with you."

Puck pouted at him.

"Hummel, you're being difficult."

"Noah, you're not gay."

"That's true," Puck said contemplatively. "But lately I've been thinking I might not care. Or I just really like sex. I don't know. Everyone experiments right?"

Mercedes and Kurt exchanged a horrified look.

"Oh god, conversation over. Let's go Mercedes."

"Fine! Be a prude!" Puck shouted after them.

Kurt flipped him off without even turning around.

Sectionals came in a blur of practice, misery and missing Blaine and Wes. They had exchanged a few texts here and there and Blaine called him almost everyday to check in and see how school was going, but it wasn't the same.

It was just so stupid. Why in the world did it matter if they saw each other before a competition or not? It's not like any of them were going to cheat…or did they still think that was Kurt's intention? He sighed. No, no he had to trust that they trusted him; especially after everything that they'd been through in the last few weeks.

Heck, he was even starting to miss David and the other Warblers.

And if Rachel didn't stop pouting and trying to pretend like not having a solo was such a _noble_ thing on her part, he might have to throw her out the back of the bus.

"Kurt, stop pouting, you're depressing me," Mercedes said from next to him where she was reading the latest issue of _Teen Vogue_.

"I am not pouting," he said indignantly. "I am just nervous for the competition, is all."

"Ha. What do we have to be nervous about- we don't have solos. You're just missing your _Warbler_ friends."

She said it with a vague hint of jealousy, and he sighed.

"I also just really wish you would get it over with and tell Blaine how you feel."

"Mercedes, were we both in the same coffee shop the day he…serenaded… Jeremiah. He is definitely not interested. Not to mention, that if I did tell him how I felt there is a good possibility of awkwardness and drifting apart again. I don't want that. I'd rather just be friends than lose that. Really."

He felt a bit of déjà vu because he was sure they'd had almost this exact conversation just a few days before.

"Yeah, you're _so_ fine with just being friends that you spend hours agonizing over what to wear when you go get coffee with him. And you know what I'm really annoyed with?"

Oh great. This was going to be a _what you're doing wrong _kind of talk. Couldn't they get to the competition already?

"You haven't even really introduced us. I mean, yeah we met in the coffee shop when Blaine serenaded that guy, but not like hanging out or anything. Do you not want us to meet? I feel like you're going to start spending more time with them than me."

"Oh come on, Mercedes, it's not going to be like that. Can't I have friends other than you? You hang out with Tina and Brittany without me. And Rachel."

"I only hang out with Rachel when it's part of a group," Mercedes felt the need to clarify.

"Thanks a lot," Rachel called from over the seat in front of them.

Kurt rolled his eyes and turned so that he was facing her.

"Mercedes, I'm sorry that I've been making you feel that way. I promise, after Sectionals I'll introduce you and then maybe we can all hang out afterward."

"What if they win?" she demanded.

"Well, I was planning on congratulating them…?" he said uncertainly.

"We're _not_ going to lose," Rachel snapped through the seat.

They both ignored her again.

"What if we win?" Mercedes challenged.

"Well, I assume that they're going to be gracious. They've never been anything but."

Mercedes made a _hmmph_ sound and sighed, turning back to her magazine.

"Fine," she said without looking up.

He sighed with relief.

"Fine," he agreed.

"Can I come?" Rachel asked, peaking up over the seats.

Kurt was going to say _no_ until Mercedes kicked him and then looked over at Finn pointedly and then back at Rachel.

Oh right. The Break Up.

And break up they had. Their discussion in the school had carried itself over to the house and it had gotten really loud. And ugly. Finn had essentially, and rightfully Kurt thought, told Rachel that he couldn't be in a relationship with someone who had cheated on him just because she'd found out about his previous relationships when they weren't together.

But, Rachel was his friend. And while he had been trying to get Finn to talk about it at home, he hadn't really approached Rachel at all. He hadn't been sure what the etiquette was or if there was some form of bro-code he needed to adhere to.

He sighed.

"I…yes. Sure. Of course you can," he said with a smile.

"Oh yay!" Rachel says, clapping.

She then turns to Mercedes and begins happily chatting about how _to _embarrass Kurt.

He sighed, and pulled out his phone. Biting his lip, he drafts a new message.

**To: Wes, Blaine, David**

**-Celebratory dinner/coffee after the competition? Winners one and all?**

There- his way of saying no hard feelings regardless of the situation.

He receives three messages with confirmation, and a few more from other Warblers pouting about not being invited. He rolled his eyes.

There were a lot more people at this sectionals competition than there were at last years, and Kurt vaguely wondered if it was because one of the competing schools (like maybe the Warblers…) were actually really well liked amongst their peers.

Having that many people there to support them would be really wonderful, but Kurt was nothing if not realistic.

It was as he was standing in the concessions line to get some coffee (because he really really needed coffee) that Rachel found him again.

"Hey Kurt," she said with a slightly shy smile.

"Hi Rachel," he greeted warily.

"So," she said tentatively. "I know we haven't been very close as of late-"

"You cheated on my brother," he said tonelessly.

She faltered.

"Y-es, yes that's true. But I, Kurt, I feel _awful_ about it. And I am absolutely not asking you to take sides- or I mean, take _my_ side. I just want a chance to make things better. I kind of thought that we were maybe like really good friends or best friends… or something," she trailed off nervously. "I made a mistake, Kurt. I'm sorry."

"It's not me you need to apologize to," he said offhandedly as he continued to peruse the menu.

"I know," she agreed. "I'm still sorry."

He sighed quietly again and held out his hand to her without looking away from the menu.

"Okay."

"Just like that?" she asked.

"It's not going to be easy, Finn's my step-brother. But you're right; we are really good friends… or something. I'm sorry I was ignoring you."

She took the hand and gave him a watery smile.

"Full fat mocha with extra whip?" she suggested.

He actually laughed, but against his better judgment agreed. What were a few extra calories before a major competition?

It was as they were returning with their coffee to their prep room that Kurt heard someone call his name. It was Blaine. Rachel shot him a smirk and squeezed his shoulder, telling him she'd see him in the room, and not to take too long.

Blaine was alone, and walking toward him with one of those grins that nearly split his face.

"Hey Kurt!" he said as they came together. "Are you excited? I'm excited! I know we said we wouldn't see each other until after the competition, but I really just wanted to come and wish you luck, and give you a hug."

"You and your hugs," he said with a laugh. "I'm glad you found me. I want to wish you guys luck too. You're going to be great out there, I know it."

Blaine beamed at him, looping an arm around his waist and guiding him into a slow paced walk back toward the prep rooms.

"Thanks! I bet you'll be really great too! I cannot wait to see you guys up there. I'm nervous, but whoever wins will absolutely deserve it because I think we've all brought the best effort we can to the table."

Kurt considered how they'd only set their set list like four days ago, and just nodded. "Of course!"

They had reached the New Directions room fairly quickly, and Blaine gave him an encouraging grin.

"No matter what happens, it's going to be great, okay? And we are so celebrating after," Blaine said soothingly when he noticed Kurt's nerves.

"Okay," Kurt agreed with a smile. "Good luck, and see you soon."

He watched him walk back toward the Warblers' room and his stomach fluttered happily before he turned and rejoined his team.


End file.
